Life and Love in Letters
by Pakmai
Summary: Yuri Katsuki is 18 and after watching Viktor Nikiforov's latest heart-wrenching performance, he decides to do something unusual (for him) and write him a letter! Viktor has never gotten such honest fan mail before from such an interesting source and decides to write back. The bond they form will shape their destiny. Viktuuri. ON HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Yuri on Ice fic, so I hope you enjoy it! I tried writing a few others, but they didn't flow, until I decided to steal this idea from one of my other fic's. :) I hope you enjoy it, please let me know! Reviews/Comments welcome.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Yuri On Ice or anything to do with it, I'm just messing around in the sandbox.**

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For the past half an hour, Yuri Katsuki had been staring at his ceiling in a state of shock. He had just finished watching his idol's – Viktor Nikiforov – performing his first Free Skate program of the year. It was entirely new, mesmerizing, and sad. At least that's the feeling that Yuri got from it. He just wished that he could make his audiences feel the same raw emotion that he had experienced. After finishing watching it on his laptop, he laid back on his bed with his arms spread and just went over everything again in his mind, absorbed it and sorted out his feelings.

Yuri had been skating for most of his life, but only had been competing for a few years now. He had been skating for years before he even knew who Viktor Nikiforov was. When he was 12, he saw a performance that changed his life. The only thing he wanted was to become as good as the Russian champion and maybe one day to share the ice with him at the Grand Prix Final. Now, he was almost 18, and he had just started college in Detroit. Not only did he get a full ride to the university, but the real reason he went is because Coach Celestino Cialdini agreed to be his coach and help him get to the Grand Prix Final. That was a major move up for him to have a more professional, well-known coach. It's also where he met Phichit Chulanont, a fellow skater from Thailand who was there for the same reason. They were both enrolled in college as well, so it was nice of him to have a friend.

Sitting up on his bed, Yuri considers for a moment as he looks around the small apartment he moved into with Phichit not too long ago. Luckily it came furnished because neither of them had anything. Standing, he moves across the one bedroom he shares with his friend and sits down at his desk, pulling out a pen and a piece of paper. He's pretty sure this is going to end badly and that he'll never get a reply, but the piece moved him so much that he couldn't help but want to put it down in words, to maybe reach out and offer whatever words of encouragement he could. After a few moments of thought, he puts pen to paper and starts to write out his feelings to his idol, the best he can. He'll certainly be more articulate in writing than in talking, at least.

~oOo~

Oct 28, 2011

Viktor,

I know you probably get a lot of fan mail. You probably won't ever read this. But I just saw your first free skate for the year and it moved me almost beyond words. I've followed your career for the last six years and all of your programs have always been so inspiring, evocative and beautiful. But this one was more than that, it was sad. I've never seen you perform a sad program before. I couldn't help but wonder if there was something that made you sad enough that the only way you could express it was through skating. Sometimes I feel that way, that there are some emotions I can only express through skating.

I forgot to say, I'm also a competitive skater, and I've only been in the Senior men's category for a year now. It's a big step but I look forward to the challenge, and I hope that I can create a program that is even an eighth as emotional as the ones you seem to come up with.

I hope as well that, if there was something that was making you sad, you'll be able to find your way past it or through it. That you have friends or family that you can talk it through with. I know that's what I would do if something was bothering me that much. And if you don't feel that you can talk to them, then if you want you can write me back. Sometimes it helps to talk to a complete stranger, and it's not like I'll be at any competitions with you any time soon.

I'm hoping things will improve for you. So that next year you can create a program that is full of spark, life, and happiness. The kind that will bring me to tears not from sadness but from joy of watching you skate and see your joy radiating from your body. That is what I wish for you. Thank you for being my inspiration. I know I'll never catch up to you, but sometimes the chase is what matters. Good luck with the rest of the season, I look forward to watching your Grand Prix performance, I know you'll make it!

Sincerely,

Yuri Katsuki

~oOo~

Reading it over and over again, Yuri takes a deep breath and finally folds up his letter, putting it in an envelope before pulling over his laptop and after a little searching, he finds an address he can send it to. It's for the skating rink that Viktor uses as his home rink. He still doesn't think the Russian man will ever read it, but he feels better for getting it out.

By the time he gets to the post office and back, his roommate is back and he blushes as he realizes what he just did. A part of him wants to take it back, because he's freaking out a little bit about it now, but another part of him, deep inside, is giving him a pat on the back for being so bold.

"Yuri, welcome back! Is everything ok?" Phichit asks as he looks up from his phone, seeing how red-faced his roommate and friend is. "Are you getting sick?" he asks, immediately getting up and walking over to put the back of his hand on Yuri's forehead.

With a nervous little laugh, Yuri nods a little and pulls Phichit's hand away from his head. "Yeah.. I'm alright, I'm not getting sick. I just.. think I did something sort of stupid..." He groans a little, dropping his face into his hands.

Concerned for his friend, Phichit pulls him over to sit him on the couch and then goes to make some tea for them both. "Take a deep breath, Yuri. I'm sure it's not as bad as you think. I know your anxiety always makes you think the worst, but it's probably not that bad. Just tell me what happened." He says in what he hopes is a soothing tone.

Taking a few deep breaths as he leans over on his knees for a few moments, Yuri considers how to say it. "I was watching Viktor Nikiforov's first performance of the year..."

"Of course." Phichit cuts in with a smirk.

"... I finished watching it and it made me feel so sad and lonely, and I just... I wrote a letter. To Viktor. A fan letter. Sort of. I mean, not really. It was more meant to be a comfort." Yuri's speech started to speed up as he got caught up in his storytelling. "But I wrote him a letter. And I sent it. I know he won't ever see it because a skater like him doesn't have time to read all his fan mail or anything, but I still sent it, and what if he sees it? Oh, no, I'm his fellow competitor! What happens if he remembers me, or he sees the letter and then looks me up? What would I do then, he'll see how horrible I am!" His voice raises with his panic, gripping his hand in his hands for a moment before lifting his head to look at Phichit.

Calmly making the tea as he listens, Phichit finally goes over to offer Yuri one of the mugs when he looks up. "Calm down. That was a really brave thing to do, Yuri. But you should relax. You're right, he's not going to see it. You probably won't ever get a reply and if you do, it'll be a generic one from whoever handles his publicity. Viktor won't ever see the letter." He reassures with a little smile, sipping his own tea. "So stop freaking out over nothing. And then show me this new program, I'm interested to see what made you act in such an unusual manner." He says with an encouraging smile.

Drinking his tea after a few moments, Yuri takes a few controlled, deep breaths to calm himself and he nods. "You're right. It's just putting my feelings out there... But he won't see it. Probably no one will see it. Thank you, Phichit." He says with a soft smile, adjusting his glasses before he gets up and comes back with his laptop, sitting down and loading up the program so they can watch it together, and then watch the other skater's as well.


	2. Chapter 2

Mail takes a long time to get from the US to Russia, and that's without it getting lost anywhere along the way. While skaters don't get the kind of fan mail movie or music celebrities probably do, just because of the difference in sizes of fan bases, there is still a considerable amount to go through. And Yakov has someone to do just that, sorting through all the gifts they get from competitions, as well as the letters they receive. It's not like he has any desire or time to do it himself.

After sorting it into piles for the different skaters, the young woman opened everything, reading the letters and putting any gifts aside, though anything that was too strange she tossed in a box to be thrown out. Their skaters didn't need to be bothered by anything disturbing.

She's almost to the end when the brunette finds the letter from Yuri, opening it and reading it through with her eyes going wider and wider the longer she reads it. Finally arranging everything into their final boxes that have the skaters' names on them, she gets up with Yuri's letter in hand and moves out to the skating rink. "Mail is here!" She announces in a loud tone to the rink, with only Georgi and Mila immediately stepping off, already sitting by the sidelines anyway.

"Viktor, I know you don't usually read much of your mail, but I really think you need to read this one." The young woman says as she holds out the small envelope toward the skater, grateful that she has long since gotten over any fangirl response.

"Alisa, it's not like you to bring me something yourself. It must have really touched you." Viktor says smoothly as he glides over to where Alisa is, leaning on the barrier and taking it from her. "Maybe we can discuss it over dinner, hmm?" He asks with casual flirtiness, always offering and always getting it turned down. It's almost become a routine by now and really he only asks because he knows he'll be turned down. His smile isn't forced but not entirely genuine either as he looks at her.

"No. Read the letter, Viktor." Alisa says with some annoyance to her tone, wishing he would stop asking while a small part of her wonders what he would say if she said yes. Probably cancel on her. She doesn't know the last time she actually saw him go out to eat with someone who wasn't a rink mate or fellow skater. It worried her sometimes, but then she reminded herself that it was none of her business.

Viktor chuckled a little. "So cold. I'll read it." He reassures, holding the letter up for her to see before tucking it into his jacket with a little smile. "Thank you for your time." He says with a smile before turning and going back to his practice of his performance.

It's not until later that evening when he returns to his apartment that he even remembers the letter when he is tossing items into his washer. Turning the letter over in his hands, he wanders into his kitchen to pour himself a glass of wine and turn on some music before he walks over to flop down on his couch and scratch Makkachin's head for a few moments before he opens the letter and looks at the small, neat print within. His eyes widen a little as he reads the letter and he can't help but smile a little. "I see now why she gave this to me." He says to his dog after he finishes reading, resting the letter on his chest as he rubs his hand over his dog's head slowly.

"What do you think, Makka? Should I surprise him and write back to him? I do so love surprising people." He says with a little grin, then slowly sits up. "First, lets find out a little about this Yuri Katsuki." He muses as he gets up to retrieve his laptop from the table, bringing it back to search for the other skater and see what he can find out.

After finding out when the boy's birthday is and finding a video or two from past competitions, Viktor decides to write back. Maybe this will be something new and exciting to inspire him, something that he had started to lose somewhat from his younger days.

"Lets go for a walk, Makkachin! I don't think I have anything to write a letter on here." Viktor muses, deciding that he should do something special and hope that it arrives for Yuri's birthday. He giggles a little to himself as he puts on Makkachin's leash, imagining what reaction his gift might get.

Not knowing much about the young Japanese man means that Viktor is somewhat limited, but he finally finds a decently sized stuffed poodle that looks like Makkachin and gets a little custom collar for it with a tag which says 'Makkachin' on one side, and the other says 'Please keep me safe for Viktor'. Giggling a little to himself, the Russian skater returns to his apartment, feeding his poodle before he walks over to sit down with his new stationary. Maybe he didn't need as much as he got, afterall, it's not as if this is going to be more than a one time thing, but it might be a good idea to just have some around in case he wants to use it for anything else.

~oOo~

Nov 14, 2011

Dear Yuri,

Thank you for your letter! I don't usually read fan letters, you're right. But the person taking care of that for us insisted that I read yours. And I'm glad she did. I'm very flattered by your reaction. It was meant to be a more sad piece, it's about my own loneliness, on the ice and off. But don't tell anyone, ok! I like to leave a little mystery.

You know your letter actually made me blush! To think that you think so highly of my performances, I don't know what to say. I have an admission, though, I looked you up online. You're not as bad as you make yourself out to be. Not bad at all. But you're young and from what I read you just started with a formal coach this year. I'll look forward to your first performances, I'm sure they will be amazing!

I also saw your birthday was coming up. I hope that you'll accept this gift as a thank you for always watching me and for understanding the message that I was trying to convey with my performance. Happy Birthday, Yuri! Maybe I'll throw in a little something special for you during the Grand Prix, hmm?

Just keep your eyes on me and I promise you'll never be bored. Maybe you should make your first big performance about me! Since you seem to have gotten so much inspiration from watching me over the years. Haha, but that sounds so conceited, I don't want you to think I am so self-centered. I look forward to seeing what you come up with, no matter what it is. And I hope some day we can share the ice at a Grand Prix. Maybe even share a podium, though you'll have to work very, very hard if you think you're going to take Gold from me.

If you want to write back to me again, that would be alright with me. I'll make sure to tell Alisa to watch out for your letters just in case, but I'll soon be heading off for the Trophee de France. I hope you'll watch me there, too. I'll assume you're going to wish me luck because I know I won't get any letter from you before my competition. Thank you again for the letter, I hope you decide to write me another one! Good luck to you, Yuri!

Sincerely,

Viktor Nikiforov

~oOo~

Satisfied with his letter and doing his normal flourishing signature on the bottom, Viktor grins with a bit of excitement as he packs everything up to send off the next day, finally sitting down to get himself something to eat, giggling to himself occasionally as he cooks and imagines what Yuri Katsuki's face might look like when he opens the box. Once he has some food in hand, he sits down and loads up his computer again to try and see if there are any other videos of Yuri's routines, curious what would make the younger man so hard on himself.

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 **This seems like a long time ago, at least in my story. I'm quite a few chapters ahead at the moment. I can't stop writing. But I'm going to try and stay ahead so I'll probably only post a chapter a week or so. That's my plan at least. My future chapters are also getting longer, it seems like. Haha. I hope I won't get too many inconsistencies, but I've changed some thing as I went along, so if there are some issues, that's probably why! Thank you everyone who has read and review so far, I hope you like this!**

 **Reviews/Comments welcome!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, Yuri!" Phichit called as he swung around the ice of their practice rink toward his roommate. "Hey, it's your birthday tomorrow, right? What are we doing?" he asks, leaning on the barrier next to his friend.

Coughing a little after taking a drink of water, Yuri covers his mouth and then looks over at Phichit. "How did you know my birthday?" he asks in surprise. "I.. I wasn't really planning on doing anything." He admits as he slips his glasses back on, glancing sideways at his friend for a moment before cautiously taking a drink of his water.

Rolling his eyes a little, the smaller skater just sighs, resting his elbows on the barrier and leaning back against it. "It's on your online profile, dummy." He teases with a little smile and then shrugs a little. "You can't just do nothing. We should have a little party. Just a little cake, some wine, maybe we could watch a marathon of Viktor Nikiforov performances." He teases his friend with a broad grin, knowing that is something that would at least please the Japanese boy. "Oh! Or whatever. I just don't think birthdays should go by without celebration." He admits, shrugging and tilting his head back a little and arching his back a little in a stretch.

Yuri just smiles a little, tilting his head as he looks at Phichit stretching since it actually makes him think of one of the moves in his new program. "Fine. Alright. We can have a small cake, but we can't do alcohol. We're not old enough to buy it here, and technically neither of us could buy it at home either." He reminds his friend since the drinking age is 20 in both Thailand and Japan. Not that either of them have listened to that necessarily, but in Yuri's case it was always around family.

"Well, ok, so we won't be drinking." Phichit says with a small shake of his head. "I'll still get a cake/ I already have your present." He says with a little smirk. "We can talk more after practice." he offers, patting Yuri on the back before he skates off around the rink, practicing part of his routine.

Sighing a little and shaking his head, Yuri puts his water bottle down and then glides back onto the ice, thinking about his routine but he gets a little distracted and flubs one of his jumps after thinking of one of Viktor's routines. Blushing when he gets yelled at by Coach Celestino, he take sa deep breath and then goes back to try it again. He knows his obsession with the skating idol is a little excessive, but he can't describe to anyone how he feels. That it's not just how attractive the man is, or how technically good his skating is. It's the emotions he evokes, and everything Yuri knows about the Russian skater that makes him like the other so much.

The rest of the day passes without incident as does the next with the classes that Yuri has. He finally returns to the apartment and drops his bag inside the bedroom door. He already stopped by to get his mail, confused at the two boxes he got, but he assumes that they are from his parents since no one else would send him anything like that, and so leaves them on the kitchen table as he first finishes a little bit of homework and then goes to see if there's anything for dinner. He knows Phichit mentioned a cake or something for his birthday but he's never really thought his birth was anything too exciting. Sure, he enjoyed the little parties with his family and friends, but not because he thought he was important, but because he got to spend time with everyone who was dear to him. That got harder the older he got. And now he's halfway around the world from his family, so his birthday seems even less important.

Halfway through cooking dinner for himself and Phichit is when his friend comes home. "I'm back!" He declares as he comes in with a gift bag and two grocery bags. "What? You're cooking dinner? You're not supposed to do all that on your birthday, Yuri!" The slighter shorter boy says in exasperation before going to put his groceries away. "Guess there's nothing for it, now, looks like you're almost done. Smells good." He reassures, nodding as he peeks around his friend to see what he's cooking. "Happy Birthday, by the way."

Smiling a little at the antics of his roommate, Yuri just nods a little as he turns back to the stove. "Thanks. And I like cooking, you know that." He points out, having learned how from his mother during the summers when he worked at the inn. His sister couldn't cook to save her life, so it fell to him to learn, and he found he really enjoyed it. Not to mention it helped him to be closer to his mother.

"Mail is on the table, I didn't bother going through it yet, the packages are from my family I think." Yuri adds, shrugging a little as he thinks about it and continues to tend to the food and getting out dishes to put everything in.

"Alright, cool. So dinner, and then part-ay." Phichit says playfully, picking up his phone and then grinning. "Say Cheese!" he says as he puts an arm around Yuri's shoulders and leans forward to get a quick selfie with him to post on Instagram, then he wanders over to the mail to start sorting it out. Glancing at the packages just to make sure they are what Yuri thought, Phichit blinks a few times as he looks at the bulkier of the two. "Ummm.. Yuri?" He asks, before he lets a slow grin spread over his face, and a slightly mischievous expression. "This one isn't from your family. Guess where it's from?"

After plating everything up for the two of them, Yuri looks at his roommate suspiciously. "How could I possibly guess, Phichit? I don't know anyone except for here and in Japan." He shrugs a little, having pretty much forgotten about the letter that he sent to his idol a month ago, having been trying to focus on his skating instead.

"Well, I can't read some of it very well, but there's one thing I do recognize.." Phichit says as he looks over at Yuri, still grinning as he tilts the box to show him the top of it. "It's from Russia! With love." He teases with a wink as he points to the little heart that is drawn right before Yuri's name.

It's good Yuri is only holding a serving spoon in his hand when he learns that tidbit of information, because it unceremoniously bounces to the floor when the Japanese man stares in shock at the package. "It.. it.. it's from R-Russia?" he stammer as he steps over slowly and gingerly takes the package from his friend, as if expecting it to disappear or explode or something. When he reads the addresses for himself he lets out a heavy breath he didn't even know he was holding.

"He.. he got my letter.. and.. and he sent a package back?! What?!" Yuri stutters and then halfway shrieks as he stares at the unassuming brown box.

Wincing a little at the sudden volume of Yuri's voice, Phichit gently takes him by the elbow and moves him the few steps to the couch to sit him down. "Here.. why don't you open it, Yuri. He went to the trouble to send something, and that can't be inexpensive, so open it already!" He says with a laugh as he hands the other boy some scissors to do just that, then he goes to clean up the kitchen and make sure nothing was going to burn.

With trembling hands and a fluttering heart, Yuri maneuvers the scissors open and finally starts to cut through the tape on the box, nervously opening it. On top was a cream colored envelope made of thick paper that had a sunset (or maybe sunrise) scene over the ocean that appears to be painted in wavering watercolors. It was a little washed out but beautifully done in cool colors that reminded Yuri of winter sunsets over snowy lands. Yuri almost wanted to frame just the envelope for the evocative scene depicted on it. Instead, he carefully set it on the coffee table and pulled aside the tissue paper that was covering the rest of what was in the box. When his hand first touched the soft fur of the stuffed animal, he gasped in surprised delight before carefully pulling out the dog which was almost as tall as his torso. The poodle was in a sitting pose, looking regal yet pleased as punch to be there.

"Oh my god.." Yuri whispers as he stares at it before turning it around and running his hand down the back and over the soft fur. "It's beautiful.. it looks just like Makkachin!" He laughs a little before noticing the collar and curiously turning over the tag with a big grin on his face.

After cleaning everything up in the kitchen and making sure that their dinner would remain somewhat warm, the young Thai figure skater returned to his friend's side in time to see him petting the stuffed dog. "Wow.. That's a really big stuffed animal." he says in surprise, before he grins a little. "That took some thought." He reassures before taking the box away to be dealt with later. "And there's a letter, too! Looks like he actually did read your letter, Yuri." he says with a little grin, picking up the envelope and looking it over. "Pretty." He admits, though it doesn't give him the same emotional rush that it does Yuri. "Here. Open it." Holding out the letter toward the still entranced man, Phichit waves it a little to get his friend's attention, smirking at his reaction.

"Oh! Right.. O-of course!" Yuri says as he takes the letter, carefully setting the gift beside him on the couch before opening the envelope. The letter isn't overly long but that doesn't matter to Yuri. The paper itself is good quality, with splashes of the blues and greens from the envelope in the upper right and lower left corners, the rest of the paper a blank white. Yuri notices that the writing itself is very precise and flowing, except for the Y's and crosses on the T's which have more of a sharp line.

Taking a shuddering breath before slowly stroking his thumb over the paper slowly, the bespeckled young man finally starts to read the actual words, feeling more as if this is a dream then any sort of reality. He never dreamed that there would be a response, much less one as lavish as this.

The letter struck Yuri as very upbeat and a little odd compared to the cool, collected man he had always seen in interviews and press conferences. Viktor always appeared to be so in control of himself, but in this letter he was much sillier, and maybe a little flirty even? Shaking his head a little, Yuri sets that thought aside and slowly tilts the paper so that Phichit can read it.

"It's his handwriting. It's his signature. He.. he wrote me, Phichit. He actually wrote to me. He.. he wanted to thank me for my letter. He wants me to write again!" Yuri says in a breathless tone of voice as he slumps back onto the couch.

Reading the letter over quickly, Phichit grins a little. "Well, everything else is just going to be a disappointment from here on in, huh? Can't get much better than Viktor Nikiforov giving you a Birthday present!" He laughs, happy for his friend.

"Maybe, but I'm sure I'll love everything!" Yuri reassures while carefully folding the letter back into its envelope. Whatever he thought of Viktor before has just been enhanced by his obvious thoughtfulness and kindness. There really is no one better. He blushes a little as he thinks, once again, that it would be nice to stand next to the silver-haired Russian, to shake his hand or maybe be enveloped in a hug... A quick shake of his head dislodges that idea and he blushes a little more, glad that his friend either doesn't notice or chooses not to comment. He really needs to stop having such thoughts about the older skater. For now, he thinks with determination, he will just enjoy the rest of his birthday!

~oOo~

It's a full 24 hours before Yuri can accept everything and he sits down to write a reply to the letter. Reading over Viktor's one more time, he caresses the text as he places it carefully on his desk before he pulls out some paper and starts to write.

~oOo~

2011 November 29

Viktor,

There are not words to describe how happy it made me to receive your letter. I never thought you would read mine, much less respond in any meaningful way. I thought at the best I might get some sort of generic response, a form letter or something. The stuffed Makkachin you sent me is beautiful and perfect. I have a dog sort of like it that I got when I was much younger. I miss him. Now little Makka is sitting in the corner of my bed to stay safe and protect my room.

I don't think you're self-centered at all. You have to skate what inspires you, right? And you are my biggest inspiration, but I still don't think I could do anything like that. Besides, I'm not choreographing my own programs, Coach Celestino is doing that for me. He says that what he designed takes into account my stamina, inexperience and general style. It's been going well so far. I'll be going to Skate America at the end of the week, though I didn't do very well at Skate Canada, so I know I won't be able to make it to the Grand Prix this year. I've been watching your performances though. There was something different bout your Trophee de France performance than the other ones that I've seen. It's the same program, but it seems to end on a more hopeful note now. Am I imagining that?

It hurts to know that you might be as lonely as your program suggests. I can't believe that you don't have anyone to share your life with. Other skaters, or family, or a girlfriend? My family has never really understood my obsession with skating but I know they were always there if anything went wrong. I don't tend to open up to people very easily, and I keep a lot bottled up inside. I know being on the ice has always been a way for me to relax and work out some of those feelings. But I never would have been able to even do that if I didn't have the support from my family. I hope there's at least someone in your life that you can open up to. If not, maybe even if it's strange, you can tell me. I'm good at keeping secrets and I promise I won't tell anyone.

If you want, I could give you my email address, too. I love having something more physical, proof that it's actually you and not someone else that I'm talking to, but it does take a long time for mail to get from Detroit to Russia. I mean, you don't have to and I don't even know why I'm suggesting it because it's way too forward and you will probably just throw this away anyway, but if you wanted to, you could. Not like I expect anything, but here, my email is .

I can't believe I just did that. I'd never be so forward in real life.

I know you told me to keep watching you, but I wanted to reassure you that I was, that I have been for the last 6 years, and that I would continue to watch you, no matter what. And I'll always be wishing you luck. I don't think you need someone like me to wish you luck for you to win, though. Maybe you don't need me, but I hope you find someone who you can skate for, or at least someone who understands you and can help you.

There is a secret I want to tell you, that I hope you won't share. I have anxiety attacks sometimes before performances. Everything just gets to be too much and overwhelming and I just find somewhere to curl up until it passes. My coach doesn't know about it, but my parents do. I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone. I'm not sure that even helps, or what point I was trying to make. I might just rewrite this entire thing because it's horrible.

I hope you get this before the Grand Prix, but in case you leave before you get this, don't worry, I'll be sure to watch and wish you luck. I want to see you kiss another gold medal, Viktor. So be sure to try your hardest!

Sincerely,

Yuri.

~oOo~

Hanging his head and covering his face with his hands, Yuri groans as he finishes the letter. He should really rewrite it and make it a little more coherent and less rambling. He doesn't want to make a fool of himself again to Viktor. Face as red as a tomato, he straightens his spine and quickly folds up the letter and seals it away, putting the address Viktor put on the box, onto the letter before hurrying out to put it in the mail. He can feel the anxiety and panic rising up in his chest after he finishes and he tries to control his breathing on his way back to his apartment where he curls up on his side on the bed with Makka clutched in his arms, face buried in the soft fur and inhaling the scent that clings to the fabric.

* * *

 **So yeah, this is where my chapters have started to get long. I changed the order of the skating events from how they were in the show because the Japanese Nationals actually are after the Grand Prix Finals, and the show always made it seem, to me, like they were before. I also had to go back and edit it a little as I did some research so if there are some mistakes/inconsistencies, I'm sorry!**

 **I hope everyone is enjoying this as much as I am enjoying writing it!**

 **Reviews/Comments welcome! Please let me know what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Viktor!" Alisa says sharply to get his attention as she heads towards them. They're all packing up for the Grand Prix Final, and she's just glad to have caught him before he left. "You got a letter from your friend." She says as she holds out the plain white envelope with the neat block handwriting to him.

Afraid that he might be in trouble at first, the Russian looks up from where he is packing away his skates, blinking a few times as he takes a moment to process what he's been told. Looking down at the letter, he smiles softly and takes it from her. Outwardly he's remaining calm while inside he wants to cheer and spin and dance. He's been worried that the package might not arrive or that Yuri wouldn't like the contents. He wouldn't write and spend the postage on a letter just to tell Viktor he hated it.

"Thank you, Alisa." Viktor says as he takes the letter gently from the woman, nodding slowly as he reads over the front as if there might be some secrets contained in the simple address. "Will you check on Makkachin at the kennel for me while we're gone? I just want to make sure they're treating him right." It's the same kennel he's used for years and years, so he has no reason to think that they wouldn't treat his dog right, but it doesn't keep him from being concerned.

With a sigh and then a smirk, Alisa nods a little. "Sure thing, Viktor. Break a leg." She says as she turns, waving over her shoulder and heading back to her little office.

Deciding that he doesn't want to read something so precious to him around the others, and especially around the young spitfire Yuri Plisetsky, Viktor gently tucks the letter into his jacket pocket. "I'm all done here, Yakov, I'm going to finish getting things from my apartment, I'll meet you at the airport!" He calls toward his coach with a little wave before he walks out of the rink, not stopping until he is in his lonely apartment, without even his dog to greet him at the door.

Everything is already packed, Viktor is meticulous about this sort of thing, but now he's glad for it because it means that he has time to sit down and really absorb whatever it is Yuri might have wanted to write to him. He can't help but smile as he looks at the neat, blocky writing that he can only assume comes from Japanese being his first language.

As he sits down and gets comfortable with his legs stretched out on the couch, Viktor smiles a little, finally starting to read through the letter. He can't help but laugh a little and feel a surge of affection for this man that he's never met, and a surge of pleasure shoot through him that the younger man saw the difference in his program. It was subtle, but it was what he felt, the hope of something new, and the promise of an end to his loneliness.

Viktor pauses in his reading and then lowers the letter. Is that really what he thought, after only two letters from this man, this fan of his? That there was hope for an end to his loneliness? He is a fellow competitor afterall, and while he may not be in the same level or competitions as him yet, Viktor is sure that Yuri will make it eventually. Is it good to let his feelings run away form him like this? Then again, he had kept his feelings to himself for so long, maybe it was time to let someone in. And it seems very clear that his heart at least, has chosen to start weaving its attachment to this strange Japanese skater.

Reading the rest of the letter, Viktor brings his free hand up to rest it over his mouth, smiling slightly behind his hand and then sighing a little. E-mail, hm? Maybe he should send his new pen pal a picture just to elicit a reaction. He could already tell what a charming, nervous personality Yuri has, one that he would love to see on display in person. Maybe that is a bit sadistic of him, but he can't help but find it to be adorable.

There is a certain intimacy to letters, knowing that someone put pen to paper and writes something specifically for someone. It's something more tangible to hold onto as well. And Viktor has to admit he kind of likes that. But then again, as Yuri said, it does take letters a long time to get from Russia to Detroit. And with him always traveling for competitions during the season he could miss letters, so email does have its perks as well. It's quicker, they can send pictures, share more with each other much easier.

Considering all the many possibilities, Viktor pulls out his phone, and puts the email into it just in case, so he will have it with him. He then smiles a little as he looks at his phone and he folds the letter up to put it back into its envelope before he holds his phone at arm's length and turns on the camera. He gives a faint smile as he looks into the camera, then lifts the letter, address out so it's very obvious what it is, and kisses the envelope softly, taking a picture to capture that moment. He hesitates though, not sure if he wants to send it, then he shrugs and opens his email program, deciding on something simple for now.

~oOo~

Date: 15 Dec 2011, 3:42 PM

From: v-nikiforov

To: k-yuri

Subject: Letters and Loneliness

Attachment: Letter . jpg

Yuri,

I just finished reading your letter. Thank you for responding, and for your words. I was very touched by them. I am so glad you noticed the change in my program! I know it was a little subtle, I wasn't sure if anyone would see it. I have a few differences for the Grand Prix Final, too, so be sure to watch!

To answer your question, I have no family, and my life has been skating as long as I can remember. I guess I've neglected other parts of my life. I'm glad it's not been the same for you. You seem like too kind of a person to be on your own.

Thank you for your email address! I think we should become friends, or perhaps pen pals. I think I will still write you letters, because there are some things which are more meaningful when they are written down I think. Besides, I might find some other cute gift to give you during my travels! I'm sorry I didn't get to see you at Skate America, I'll be sure to look up the video on my flight. I'm sure you did better than you were expecting.

I'm leaving for the Grand Prix this afternoon, in a few hours in fact. It's an 18 hour flight, so I won't arrive in Quebec until very early tomorrow morning. So don't worry if I don't reply to any of your emails right away, I'm probably just sleeping! :)

I just wanted to send you this quickly before I leave, and I've included a picture just for you. It may not be a gold medal, but I think you'll like it. ;) Feel free to send me an e-mail back, I think we should be pen pals, and I'd love to learn more about you! Don't be shy!

Your Friend,

Viktor

~oOo~

Viktor reads it over once more and then smiles, nodding to himself and attaching the picture he took before sending it, giggling a little to himself before he gets up and goes to put Yuri's letter carefully in a small box in his bedroom with the other one before collecting his suitcase and heading to the airport to meet with Yakov, reminding himself that he needs to find the Skate America performances and see how well his new friend did when they get on the plane.

Once he gets to the airport, he sighs a little and tries to ignore Yakov, at least getting to board early because they have First Class tickets. Getting comfortable in his seat, Viktor pulls out his earbuds and puts them into his phone before finding the video he wants and watching the performance and frowning a little. While it's clear that Yuri needs help on the technical aspects of his piece, he got much higher points for the performance. It was good, but there was a stiffness to it that bothers Viktor, something that was missing from the performance. A part of him wanted to write a critique for Yuri right then and there, but thinking back on the two letters and how hard on himself the boy seemed to be, the silver-haired skater decides to keep things to himself for now. He'll say something if Yuri asks him, but he'll have to figure out a way to do it tactfully so as not to damage what little confidence the younger man seems to have.

Finally, he has to shut his phone off as the plane taxis out and Viktor turns to look out the window, smiling slightly as he thinks about the slight tweaks he made to the ending of his program, and he wonders if Yuri will notice or if he will understand. The boy seems to be fairly intuitive and understanding of the language of skating, making him confident in his fellow competitor's ability to understand the rapidly evolving story he's telling.

* * *

 **I wanted there to be more to it, but I just couldn't get my brain to wrap it back around, and most of Viktor's rinkmates from the show (Yuri, Mila, Georgi) would either not be there or be in Juniors at this point since I set it back 5 years. My brain just wasn't up to creating someone new today. Sorry!**

 **Also, I know that there's no real email address in there. It's because I had one, but Fanfiction ate it. They will not accept the 'at' symbol at all, but in case you wanted to know I had Viktor's as seryy-dot-com, and Yuri's as hasetsuice-dot-com. I wanted to keep this formatting though to let readers know it's an email and not a written letter. I think they still might do both, or go back and forth depending on their mood. We'll see! I hope you all enjoy it, and thank you all for the wonderful reviews!**

 **Reviews/Comments welcome and encouraged!**


	5. Chapter 5

It started out as an early day for Yuri, who had ballet practice (though it wasn't as good as Minako's teachings), and continued from there into classes and then skating, so he doesn't get home until around dinner time. "Hey, Phichit." He says a little tiredly. "Don't suppose you're making enough for two?" he asks hopefully as he sees his friend working at a wok for some sort of stir fry.

"Always, Yuri!" Phichit says as he glances back at his friend. "Go take a shower, you look awful." He notes as he looks at how tired his friend looks.

Nodding a little, Yuri smiles. "Thanks, I don't know what I'd do without you on days like today." He says with true affection to his tone before he turns and drops his bag into the bedroom, sorting out laundry before he gets some fresh clothes and heads to take a hot shower, which lasts longer than he expects it to because his muscles are a little stiff.

Eventually he comes out in a t-shirt and loose sweatpants, rubbing his hair a little with a towel. "That smells great." He says as he looks at the table where Phichit has set up the food.

"Bon apetite!" Phichit says with a little snicker, pouring them both some tea from the pot which he brought over from Thailand. "You look a lot better now. Celestino really worked you hard today, huh?" He asks curiously. Both of them are out of the running for the Grand Prix, but they have Nationals coming up in just over a month they both qualified for, which means they definitely need to practice.

"Yeah, I started out the day with ballet and ended it with Celestino. He had me doing stairs and situps before I even stepped foot on the ice." Yuri says with a small sigh as he sits down, looking at the food before he puts his hands together. "Itadakimasu." He says before he starts to eat. "It's your turn tomorrow, so enjoy it while you can." He says with a little smirk. "This is wonderful as always.. thanks." He says, stir fry being popular with the two because it's quick to make and easy to get lots of vegetables into your diet.

Phichit nods a little and he smiles. "Yeah, but I don't do ballet like you do. It's hard to go running or anything around here this time of year because of all the snow and ice." He says with a small sigh. "Which is what I'd like to do. I'm sure Ciao Ciao will make up for it though." He snickers a little, using the nickname their coach has based off of the greeting the feline man gives to everyone. Though at least he doesn't copy the paw-like wave their coach does.

Nodding a little as he continues to eat, Yuri takes a deep breath and tilts his head back and forth to stretch his neck a little. "No doubt." He says with a little smile. "We still going to watch the Grand Prix on Saturday?" He asks hopefully, then he smiles shyly. "I wrote Viktor again and told him I would be watching..." Dropping his head to stare at his food, he doesn't dare look up to see his friend's expression as he feels heat creeping up his cheeks to the very tips of his ears.

Stopping mid-bite, Phichit looks at his friend and he grins slowly. "Good for you!" Secretly he ships those two hard, but he would never say anything out loud. He's just the type that ends up thinking about which friends would be good together and things like that. "I'm sure he'll be glad. But we're totally still on for that viewing party. Wouldn't miss it!" He reassures with a grin. "I've already got some sweet treats planned that won't break our diet." He says with a little laugh. The younger Thai man really enjoys cooking in its many forms, and he likes the challenge of creating things that taste good but that they don't have to worry about as far as fat or calories. Especially when it comes to Yuri, who seems to gain weight so easily.

"Really? I'll look forward to it then." Yuri says with a smile, but the blush stays on his cheeks. "I doubt it matters to him if I watch or not, he's got so many people watching him. One more person won't matter, Phichit." He insists with a half-shrug, not wanting to get his hopes up about anything. It is possible that Viktor is just a friendly, generous person and the gift meant nothing. The letter might have said otherwise but Yuri is epic in his ability to deny what is right in front of him.

Rolling his eyes while Yuri has his head down and can't see, Phichit gently kicks his shin under the table since his hands are occupied with eating. "You'll see. You're different to him, I'm confident about it. Too bad he doesn't need to go to Nationals, what with the Grand Prix under his belt and everything, I don't think there's anyone that can challenge him this year, except maybe Christophe Giacometti. And even then that's a big maybe." He says thoughtfully, finishing his food and then getting up to clean up the dishes and put everything in the small dish washer they have, then he returns to his seat to sip his tea.

"There's something about Christophe that's always bothered me. He's too handsy and.. forward." Yuri admits, having met the older skater a twice and learned quickly that the Swiss man has no concept of personal space. It made him very nervous, and both times he was glad that he skated before the other man, otherwise his presence might have snapped Yuri's frayed nerves.

Phichit giggles a little as he thinks about it and he nods. "That's just because you're cuter than the rest of us. Christophe likes cute things. You wouldn't think so by looking at him, but he does." He says with a shrug, not having the same problems with the older skater as his friend does.

Finishing his food and going to deal with his dishes, Yuri nods a little. "Thanks for the dinner, Phichit, it was great." He says in a change of subject, cleaning up all the pots and pans and various other dishes before he goes to the bedroom to grab his laptop. "I'm glad I managed to do my homework earlier today, I don't think I will be able to focus enough tonight." Sighing, he returns with his laptop to the couch, stretching a little before he sits down and props his feet up on the coffee table before opening his laptop.

"Maybe you should just go to sleep, then." Phichit points out as he looks at his friend, getting up to clear away their tea and the pot before he takes two bottles of water out of the fridge and picks up the remote on the way to the couch. Sitting down next to Yuri, he places both bottles between their feet on the coffee table and then turns on the TV. It's clear after a moment though that something happened, as the Japanese man hadn't moved a muscle in a few minutes and was staring at his laptop with a wide-eyed look of shock. "Yuri? You ok?" He asks in concern, before he grins a little and asks playfully, What, did you get caught in a pornado?" before he leans over against his shoulder to peek at the computer screen.

While he blushes a little at the term, Yuri doesn't react much other than that, too shocked by what he sees on the screen. In his email that he just opened, is a singular new message. From an email he didn't recognize, until he looked closer at it. V-Nikiforov. Viktor Nikiforov. Viktor emailed him. Him. He actually emailed him. And there's an attachment. Is that a virus, something to keep Yuri from replying, to make him leave the Russian alone? Or is it something else? A file? A picture? He wants to click on it, but his hands are frozen, his whole body is frozen and he can't seem to complete the action.

"You gave him your email?! That's great! Open it, open it! Yuri, open it!" Phichit urges, grabbing onto his friend's arm and shaking it a little to try and snap him out of his trance.

Blinking hard for a moment, Yuri looks over at Phichit. "Alright, alright!" he says urgently because he's afraid his laptop will spill out of his lap. Finally opening up the email to read it, and letting out a breath slowly as his eyes scan over the page. It's not very long, or very complicated, but it makes him blush just to think of the man who sent him a message from the other side of this screen.

Despite his shock and nerves about reading it, the letter itself makes Yuri smile and even chuckle softly at the antics of the other man. "I think he's a lot more energetic than we ever see on TV." He mutters, mostly to himself but with his friend so close there's no doubt he would hear it. "He's so.. vibrant. It makes me even more sad that his programs this year were so.. lonely." He admits quietly as he reads the letter over again.

Phichit reads the screen over Yuri's shoulder and grins to himself a little as he glances at his friend. "That's good, you need someone that outgoing and energetic to be able to draw you out of your shell a little." He nudges the other skater with is elbow a little and grins. With the smile fading a little, he watches Yuri's profile as he talks and reads, wondering if he realizes just how obvious it is that his feelings are deeper than just someone admiring a celebrity or the way people feel toward their idols. There is definitely something else there, but Phichit knows that if he were to comment on it, it would just make the shy man next to him stutter, blush, and scramble back into his shell.

"Open the attachment, Yuri!" Phichit says instead with a little bit of forced excitement, giggling lightly as he thinks of what the picture is. "Oh wait, maybe I shouldn't look, I hope it's modest." he says playfully just to watch the red stain Yuri's cheeks.

On cue, the raven-haired man's cheeks turn a dark shade of red. "I'm sure he's not like that, Phichit. It's probably just a picture of Makkachin or something like that." He says dismissively, shaking his head as he moves his cursor over to the attachment and double-clicks, going through the annoying prompts about opening it, then staring in shock as he sees the picture appear on the screen of Viktor kissing the envelope of his letter. And it is definitely his letter, even though it's small he can recognize his own handwriting on the front of it. Shifting his eyes from that to the face of his idol, Yuri stares at the look in the man's eyes, so soft and piercing at the same time, he feels captivated by the cool blue tones that he wants to fall into forever.. Wait. What? Shaking his head a little, he looks down at his keyboard with a shy little smile, very pleased by this photo.

Phichit lets out a low whistle of appreciation as he sees the picture. "I told you he likes you. The only other thing I've ever seen Viktor kiss has been a gold medal." He points out with a little grin. "And he never looked like /that/ when he did it." A small snicker comes from the boy and he smiles. "You better be planning on emailing him back."

Yuri blushes as he glances over at his friend and then he clears his throat a little. "He's just messing with me, I'm sure it's just a joke. Like what Christophe does, you know? Just flirting for fun?" He says, still pleased by the picture but not willing to believe it means anything. His pounding heart may wish otherwise, which is confusing enough as it is. "I'll email him back..." He reassures, though in a slightly reluctant tone because he's not sure what he's going to say. "I'm going to lay down afterall, I think." He decides, not wanting to be watched while he composes his email. Before there can be any argument, he gets up with his laptop, swiping one of the bottles of water before he heads back toward the bedroom and closes the door most of the way to quiet some of the noise from the TV.

Most of the lights are left off except for one attached to the headboard of his bed he put there in order to be able to read at night without disturbing Phichit. Settling down into his bed, with his laptop once again situated, Yuri takes one last lingering look at the picture before he closes it without flush, opening the email itself back up to read it and respond.

~oOo~

Date: Dec 15, 2011, 8:37 PM

From: k-yuri

To: v-nikiforov

Subject: RE: Letters and Loneliness

Attachment: Good-Morning . jpg

Viktor,

Good Morning.

I'm pretty much in shock right now. Again. You're very good at surprising me apparently, on and off the ice. And I know how much you like doing that, so I guess I shouldn't expect that to stop anytime soon. I hope your flight went well and that you settled into your hotel alright. It's been a long day for me, Celestino is working me hard for the Japan's Nationals coming up next month in Kadoma, Japan. It'll be nice to go someplace maybe a little warmer, it can be frigid in Detroit, but I bet you would be right at home. I'm sure St. Petersburg gets much colder than this.

You're so different in your emails than I've ever seen you be in interviews or any other type of media. Very... energetic. Are you really like that in real life? I can be rather sedate, and I am pretty shy, I think meeting you would be a very overwhelming experience for me. I'd never really thought about it in any real sense, I mean I hoped that we would meet someday at an event or a Grand Prix Final. That was more the dream of a fanboy though, and while I'm still a fan, you're becoming much more real to me.

My friend Phichit Chulanont and I are having a viewing party on Saturday to watch the Short Programs at the Grand Prix, so I hope you'll do your best. I look forward to seeing whatever changes you've made and I'm glad that I interperted it correctly last time. Even more, I'm glad that there's some hope in your life now, though I'm confused how I could offer you anything like that. I wouldn't mind being friends or pen pals, but I feel a little inadequate and unprepared for something like that. I'm just a 19 year old college student and dime a dozen figure skater. I don't have a lot of life experiences or really many friends. I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'll do what I can.

I think I'll write you some real letters, too. There's something sort of special and magical in this day and age of going through the effort to write something down and send it to someone. Knowing that it will take time, and knowing that whatever you decide to say isn't something that needs to be said right away, it's something that will be as true the day you wrote it as it is the day the person receives it. And it's nice to have some momento to prove that all of this is real and that it won't just go up in smoke.

It's still so surreal to me. And I know that I'm being much more candid from this side of the screen than I ever could be in person. So maybe that's good for me, I'm not sure if I could put a full sentence together if you were here with me.

Oh, thank you for the picture, too. It was.. a little intense and embarrassing. I think I'm still blushing, and I'm not really sure what to think about it. But thank you anyway, it made me feel good to know you value my letters even a little. You're probably just messing with me like Christophe Giacometti does, but I still got a picture.

I'm going to send a picture back to you, just keep in mind that it's been a really long day for me, and I'm getting ready to go to bed, so don't be too harsh, ok? Ahh! I can't believe I'm going to send it to you, but I'm going to try and not overthink everything like I normally do, and just send it. I nearly hyperventilated after sending that last letter to you because I was so nervous about it, it's so unlike me. But like I said, it's much easier to do it when I know there are thousands of miles between us and there's the buffer of being on the other side of the screen or writing something down.

So I guess I did tell you a little more about me, but since you want to know more about me, here's something else. My family owns a hot-springs inn in Saga prefecture in Japan, in a town called Hasetsu. That's where I grew up and where I learned to skate. Hasetsu Ice Castle was the name of the rink where I learned to skate. If you're ever in the area for any reason, you should go and stop by the inn. The food is really good and the hot springs are amazing, especially after a long day of practice. I think you'd like it.

I had better get to sleep, I'm exhausted and I have an 8am class tomorrow. Good luck with your Short program!

Your friend,

Yuri

~oOo~

Yuri blushes brightly as he looks at the screen and moves his laptop away a little to pick up his phone since it has the better camera, extending one arm above and in front of him. He can't make the blush go away, so he just fidgets with his glasses and rolls with it, taking a picture of him shyly looking at the camera with a hesitant smile on his face. "Ugh, that is so awful, I should take it again. No, no, I'm going to try and not to second guess myself." He mutters, transferring the picture to his computer before he attaches it to the email. An after one last glance through to make sure there aren't any glaring spelling errors, he hits send, and immediately puts both hands over his face with a little groan, which turns into a sort of muffled squeal as he kicks his legs a little against the bed.

Thankfully the noise seems to be too quiet as it doesn't draw the attention of his roommate. Yuri quickly shuts down his laptop and plugs it up before turning to his bed and picking up his phone to load up the picture that Viktor sent him on it, blushing. He always thought of Viktor as so far above him, an idol, a god of skating. And yes, he always thought of the older man as handsome, but in the way he can recognize beauty in any form. But now the man is becoming more real for him, and with that comes a slightly more real attraction which utterly confuses him because he's never really felt attracted to a man before. Not that he's ever been overly attracted to any females before either. Except maybe Yuko, but that was more admiration than any real desire to date her. At least, that's what he thinks now, he can't remember exactly what he thought before.

Maybe, Yuri muses as he closes his eyes and tries to settle his heart down so he can sleep, it's more about the person than the gender for him. Shaking his head a little, he groans into his pillow, hiding his face for a moment before he shifts so he can breathe easily, bringing his phone up once more to look at the picture before putting it on the charger with a little smile on his face. He'll just have to see what happens from now on. Closing his eyes, he's finally able to drift off, thinking of a set of piercing blue eyes that remind him of the ocean around Hasetsu.

* * *

 **Fridays will be my updating day I think. It's working out well to post a chapter a week, especially since I've slowed down my writing some. I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story so far! And thank you, everyone, for reading and for the reviews!**

 **I am trying to figure out how I should have them meet for the first time. Do you think Viktor should surprise (stalk) Yuri, or should it be at a competition? Let me know what you guys think, I'm having a hard time deciding!**

 **Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it, and as always, please let me know what you think.**

 **Comments/Reviews welcome!**


	6. Chapter 6

The flight was a long one, and by the time they got to the hotel, Viktor wanted nothing more than to sleep, not even turning his phone back on from where he had turned it off for landing. Instead, he just kicks off his shoes and collapses onto the bed, asleep nearly as soon as his head hits the pillow. By the time he wakes up later that morning, it's almost 10am. Stretching, he finally turns on his phone as he goes to take a shower and dress for the day, gathering his duffel bag with his practice gear in it and sending Yakov a message before he checks his Instagram to see who else he might know is around. Since everyone seems to be practicing at the rink, he decides to head that way, while grabbing some food on the way.

It's only when he's putting on his skates at the rink, looking around at his fellow competitors that he even thinks to check his email. With a little grin he finishes lacing his skates and pulls out his phone to check his email as he does a few final stretches, nearly bouncing like a little kid when he sees he has a reply to his hastily sent email. And an attachment of his own, which is intriguing but he decides to read the letter first.

Nothing gives him more delight than the first sentence, or so he believes at first. He lives to surprise people, whether they're his audience or his coach or fellow skaters. He doesn't want to become predictable or boring, and so wants to keep surprising people. And the fact that he can surprise someone who has been watching him for so long and apparently knows him rather well, is exciting to him.

Celestino is mentioned again and for a moment Viktor looks up at the ceiling as he tries to remember the coach, finally being able to place the face with the written name. "Ah. I suppose that makes sense." he mutters to himself as he considers the skaters that the man has produced over the years and what type of coaching style he has. Since his little Yuri seems to be the nervous, anxious sort, Viktor understands why Celestino might be the best coach for him.

Viktor giggles a little as he continues to read through the letter, "Hmm.. what a precious, delicate flower he is..." He mutters to himself, eyebrows going up when his friend Christophe is mentioned, and he tilts his head to the side a little. "Yuri thinks I could be like Chris? So they've met before..." He mutters softly to himself as he finishes reading the letter.

"Talking to yourself now? I hope you're not getting senile in your old age, Viktor.." Speak of the devil and he appears. Chris leans over the barrier of the rink toward where Viktor is sitting on a bench and he smiles a little. "Good to see you again. What are you looking at your phone so intently for, is it something interesting? Will I be excited?" He asks in his normal flirty, suggestive manner with a small smile for his friend.

Looking up at Chris and staring for a moment, really paying attention to him, Viktor just smiles a little. "Oh. So that's what he meant." He says off-handedly before he smiles. "Well, I don't think it would excite you, but it's certainly a new development for me. I have a pen pal." He says cheerfully, looking down at his phone and opening the picture, his eyes going wide for a moment as he looks down at the sleepy looking Yuri. The boy's glasses slightly askew, his shirt wrinkled up and while he can only see the upper half of it, he imagines the bottom riding up a little to create those wrinkles which makes Viktor smile. There's something alluring about the picture, and maybe the Russian is imagining it, but there seems to be a shy 'come hither' look in those beautiful brown eyes, and the blush that is spread across the younger boy's cheeks is just adorable.

"A pen pal?" Chris asks in surprise before he laughs a little. "From the look on your face, I'd say it's a little more than that. I've never seen you look so intent before. You're captivating to watch.." He says with a little smile.

Viktor closes his phone and locks it before he tucks it into his bag, smiling at his friend. "It's a recent pen pal. He's very interesting." He says with a little smile as he takes off his skate guards and heads for the ice. "I'll be even more captivating with a gold medal." He says playfully to Chris, knowing that the Swiss skater has constantly been chasing him to the podium and has come in Silver to his Gold several times.

"You wound me. I might take the Gold from you this time, Viktor.. You'll have to tell me more about your friend.. we could go out for dinner and drinks." Chris offers as he watches his friend stretch his legs briefly before stepping onto the ice.

"Dinner sounds good. Maybe after the opening ceremonies, yes?" Viktor offers, not waiting for an answer before he glides out onto the ice, taking a few moments to get warmed up before practicing parts of his routine, making sure to stay out of the way of other skaters, especially when he does jumps, and he waves to those watching with his normal, publicly polite smile, but he can't help but think about the picture that Yuri sent him. He feels like he's missing something when it comes to his new friend, some disconnect between the way he writes and thinks about himself, and the attractive, alluring man he appears to be on the ice and even in that picture he sent. Maybe if they met in person it would be explained.

Shaking off his thoughts, Viktor gets back to focusing on his routine, starting to tweak the end of it to show his new outlook, wanting the story to have a more hopeful, uplifting ending, so he starts to work on his choreography a little. Finally, when it gets close to the end of practice time, he heads off the ice and smiles a little as he sees Chris there. "So where are we gong for dinner?" he asks cheerfully, picking up his towel to wipe off his face and neck before he starts to change back into street shoes.

Chris looks at Viktor curiously. "You're changing something, aren't you? Or are you so confident that you're working on next year's program?" He asks with a bit of amusement, always curious about the enigmatic Russian who seems to keep so much to himself.

"Chris! You are always trying to get a step up, but I won't tell you. I'm going to go get cleaned up at the hotel, and then we can have dinner. So you should find us something good to eat." Viktor laughs and smiles, easily skirting answering the question as he finishes changing. "Want to walk back with me?" he asks, since the hotel is only a few blocks from the rink.

Chris pouts a little but he stands up and picks up his bag. "I suppose we could walk, and I know of a place we could go. It's not too far and the food is amazing." He says as he follows Viktor out of the rink, squinting up at the sun for a few moments. "Ahhh.. I do enjoy Quebec." He says as he looks around and smiles a little. "Are you going to make me wait for dinner, or are you going to tell me something about your new interest?" He asks with amusement as he looks at his friend.

Viktor chuckles a little. "Always so relentless." He teases before he smiles a little. "I think you already know him actually, if the email I got earlier is any indication." With a little smirk, he lets his friend stew for a few moments before he continues. "It's another skater, though he's never been to the Grand Prix." He drops another hint and then chuckles at the frustrated look on Chris' face. "Yuri Katsuki, from Japan." He finally puts the Swiss skater out of his misery with the name, grinning a little.

"You're an awful tease, Viktor, you know that, don't you?" Chris asks with a little pout before he taps his chin a little. "Yuri Katsuki.. Oh, right, I've seen him a few times I think. I can see why you like him, he's very cute." He teases his friend in return. "Not much of a skater though. While his nerves can be kind of cute, it doesn't translate well onto the ice." He says critically as they turn the corner toward the hotel. "And he blushes so easily!" He adds with a little snicker. "However did you meet him anyway?"

Listening intently to what Chris has to say, Viktor adds everything to what he knows about Yuri already. "He's actually quite a skilled skater, I think it's just that his program doesn't take advantage of him. And he does get nervous so he flubs his jumps. But the steps sequences are generally very difficult and interesting, plus executed nearly flawlessly. He has incredible grace to him." He says as he thinks about it, tilting his head back slightly to look up at the sky as they walk and he adjusts his hold on the duffel. "Mmm. Yuri did say that you were teasing him." He muses, rolling his head to the side to look at Chris for a moment before he looks straight ahead again. He takes a moment to consider his answer to the other skater's question, not really sure how much he wants to tell them about how they met.

Staying silent but watching his friend, Chris tilts his head to the side with a private smile. He can tell that this boy means more to Viktor than he wants to let on, he's never heard the older man take such an interest in any of the other skaters, especially not the younger generation which really doesn't pose a threat to him. And he definitely has never been defensive of them.

Sheepishly, Viktor scratches the side of his head near his temple when Chris asks how he met Yuri. "Well, see, that's an interesting thing." He muses. "We haven't really met yet. Yuri wrote me a letter and Alisa, the person who handles all our mail for us, insisted that I read it. And so I did, and it was so cute I just had to reply. We've only exchanged two letters an an email." He says with a little laugh and a smile.

Eyes widening a little, Chris laughs. "Let me guess, another one of your fans? You really are too cruel, Viktor, to play with the poor boy's emotions. What happens when you get tired of him? You're going to have to spend more time creating a new routine for next year, in just a few months. And he will as well, if he keeps competing." When he sees the Russian man starting to get upset, he just laughs a little. "I'm just looking out for you. I don't want to see either of you get hurt afterall."

Viktor opens the door to the hotel when they get there, looking back at his friend. "I'm going to go shower. Text me around 7 for dinner, I want to get a small nap in." He says in a more sedate manner before he heads for the stairs, deciding that he wants the bit of exercise, and he's only on the fourth floor, leaving behind a rather surprised looking Chris.

When he finally gets to his room, Viktor leans against his closed door for a moment and frowns before he goes over to the small coffee maker to start the pot before he stays true to what he told Chris and takes a long, hot shower. With a white t-shirt, gray sweatpants and a towel around his neck, Viktor actually looks closer to a man of 23 than he normally does in his more designer clothes.

A little bothered by what Chris said about him losing interest in Yuri, Viktor sits down and opens his laptop up, considering. Does he really act that shallow? As if he would just brush aside someone who he means so much to? He truly wants to become Yuri's friend, but if Chris, his closest friend among skaters, thinks that he would give up on these letters so easily it's no wonder the Japanese boy thinks so little of himself.

Viktor waits for his computer to load and wipes away some water dripping from his hair, sighing a little before he grabs his cellphone and leans his hip against the dresser before extending the phone at arm's length to take a picture of himself. He's not sure if he'll send it to Yuri or not, but he's considering it. He wants to be seen as more than just a skater, or some idol. He wants to be seen for himself, a man.

Once everything is running, Viktor walks over to sit down with his laptop and he pulls up his email program to read over Yuri's email one more time, a soft, fond smile coming over his face as he rubs his index finger back and forth against his lips. "I don't think I would ever get tired of hearing such things as you come up with, Yuri.. I want to know everything about you." He muses out loud, not realizing how low and almost seductive his tone comes out as.

~oOo~

Date: Dec 16, 2011, 3:31 PM

From: v-nikiforov

To: k-yuri

Subject: Grand Prix Final

Yuri,

I slept very well, thank you. I just got back to my hotel from practice, and I thought I would send you a quick note before I took a small nap and went out to dinner with Chris. Interesting that you mentioned him - I understand what you meant by your comment now - but I can assure you I'm not intending to tease you or flirt without meaning the way Chris does. He can't help himself, that's just how he is. But with you I don't want to put on any of the facades that I give to the public or to most of my fans. None of them have seen the real me, but you watch my programs and you seem to see through all that. It's refreshing and not something I've experienced before.

I love that I can surprise you. You're right, I do like surprising people. I hope that I can keep surprising you. Keep surprising my audiences as well. But it means more when it's one person, I think. It's easier to surprise a large group of people. You won't surprise every single one, but most of them you will, and you'll never know the difference. To constantly surprise an individual is more difficult.

To answer your question, I suppose I am fairly optimistic most of the time. I try not to let things bother me. Most of the time you can't change anything anyway. And if it's something you can change, then you should! But I'm not feeling the same right now. Maybe it's my lack of sleep, maybe it's the reminder that the person I consider to be my closest friend doesn't even really know me that well. Which is more a comment on the quality of my friendships than any fault of yours, don't worry!

Since you're being so candid, I suppose that I should return the favor. I'll do my best! I'm not used to being so open with someone. Oh! Thank you for the picture you sent. It surprised me. You were so cute! You don't need to worry about how you looked, though I could easily imagine that's how you look when you wake up in the morning. It makes me smile to think about it.

I'm feeling a little melancholy today, but don't worry, I never let my feelings off the ice affect how I am on the ice. If anything, how I feel now will only work better for my routine. Even cheerful people have sad days, you know? I wish I had brought my paper and I would send you a proper letter while you're here. It's much closer than Russia and you would get it much sooner. I suppose I could buy some more, but that just seems wasteful and I doubt I could find something as perfect as what I have at home.

Your family's home sounds interesting. I'd like to visit sometime, perhaps the next time I'm in Japan I'll see if I can make a side trip. Maybe I'll even get to meet you there, hmm? Though I imagine you don't get to go home very often if you're in college.

It's odd, we've never met, but right now, in this moment, I feel closer to you than anyone else in my life. Even my coach, Yakov. I'm supposed to have dinner with Chris later, but at the moment I just want to cuddle with something. Have I mentioned that? I think it's one of the reasons I have a dog as fluffy as Makkachin. I love to cuddle with him! He's always there when I'm not feeling bad, to cheer me up. I miss him right now. Oh! You should send me a picture of the mini Makka I sent you! I want to see that he got there alright. Be sure to send it with your next email, ok?

I'm sorry this email was sort of melancholy. I'll try to do better next time and not be so depressing, I don't want you to worry about me. This happens sometimes, and I'll be just fine, I promise! I took another picture today but I don't want to spoil you too much or distract you, so I'll wait and send it another time. I like us exchanging selfies. It gives me a glimpse into your every day life, and I like that. I hope you are doing well in your studies, don't let my emails distract you!

Be sure to tell me something interesting for your next email. I like being surprised as much as I like surprising people, I don't know if you knew that! So be sure to think of something! I look forward to hearing what you think of my program tomorrow. Don't hold back!

Your Friend,

Viktor xo

~oOo~

Viktor grins a little as he adds that little hug and kiss at the end of his name, just because he knows it will surprise Yuri and maybe make him flip out a little. He sort of bared his soul a little in that email, and now he feels better, sending the letter and then closing his laptop before he shuts the shades, sets an alarm and crawls onto the bed. He wasn't lying when he said he wanted a nap, he's tired, with his coffee completely forgotten. It will be there when he gets up.

Snuggling down into the covers, Viktor grabs one of the extra pillows and hugs it against himself, bringing up the picture of Yuri for a moment and looking at it with a fond little smile. "I wouldn't mind waking up to that face in the morning." He mutters to himself with a little chuckle. "Viktor, you fool, what are you doing getting so attached? You're supposed to be friends." He reprimands himself before he nods a little. Friends. That is what he wants and what they will be. That decided, he shuts off his phone and plugs it up to make sure it won't lose charge, before closing his eyes with the pillow hugged tightly against his chest.

* * *

 **I'm going to post on Fridays, I said, and then Viktor's voice pops up and says 'I did say that, didn't I?'. I almost forgot. I'm a horrible person. But here we are anyway! I feel like my Viktor chapters are shorter, because I don't feel like he's as social as Yuri is, he doesn't make as many friends. Maybe that's just me. Thanks for all your reviews, I hope you're still enjoying this! And thanks for reading!**

 **Reviews/Comments welcome (and encouraged)!**


	7. Chapter 7

"I got the popcorn!" Yuri says as he comes into the apartment, a little out of breath from his jog to the store. "Sorry I'm late, it hasn't started yet, has it?" He asks, looking over toward the TV as he slips off his shoes and jacket, putting the box of popcorn beside the microwave for later. Seeing the tea tray on the counter, he picks it up as he walks over to where Phichit is.

"Nah. I mean, the program has started, but they haven't gotten to the Men's skate yet, so you haven't missed anything." Phichit reassures with a smile as he sets down a plate of snacks on the coffee table and then sits down on the floor with his back to the couch. "So.. I made some steak and vegetable kebabs, stuffed mushrooms, a quiche and fruit salad, so with the popcorn we'll be all set!" He says, quite proud that he managed to make a somewhat healthy meal for them to eat as they watch the skaters. It's still early and the men's program doesn't start until around 8pm Detroit time, so they have a little over an hour until the event starts.

Yuri settles down beside his friend and he smiles. "It looks great, Phichit, as always." He reassures with a smile, taking a deep breath as he leans back against the couch and looks at the screen where the women's single skates are going on. "Did you ever think about doing pairs skating?" Sitting forward a little, he grabs his plate and puts a few things on it before he looks over at his friend.

Phichit considers and then shakes his head. "Not really. I mean, I had a friend back in Thailand who was a skater, and we used to sort of do pairs routines together, but that was just for fun. I don't think I ever wanted to compete in a way that relied entirely on someone else." He truly thinks about it for a moment as he leans forward a little to get food for himself as well before passing his friend a cup of tea. "What about you?"

A small nod is given as Yuri accepts the mug with a little smile. "No, I never even thought about it as an option. I mean, I got into skating because of watching Viktor. So that might have something to do with it. There's a girl back in Hasetsu that I skated with, a friend, and sometimes we would skate Viktor's programs together.. or at least try to, but that's not really the same thing. I don't think I'd be comfortable with it. Pairs skating, I mean. You really have to trust your partner and I don't think anyone could trust me like that. I mean, I flub my own jumps when I get nervous.. I couldn't let anyone put their safety in my hands like that." He admits as he eats a little of the food, realy thinking about the pairs skating and frowning lightly. "No.. pairs skating with me would be a bad idea." He says after a moment with a small sigh, still having basically no confidence in his skating ability. He has desire to skate, and he even has talent, it's just the confidence that he lacks. One of many things he very much admires Viktor for.

"I think you'd be good in pairs skating, if you ever wanted to try it. Maybe you should just do it for fun. It might help with your confidence. I mean, having someone trust and believe in you in that situation might force you to believe more in yourself." Phichit says as he considers it, then he shrugs a little as he starts to eat. "It's also a whole lot of fun sometimes." He says with a big grin, before he looks back at the screen. "Hey, it's Sara Crispino. Her twin brother, Michele is in our division." He says as he points toward the TV screen a little.

Yuri looks up at the screen and then he nods a little. "Yeah, I think I met him last year, briefly. He didn't really seem interested in talking to any of the other skaters. He was too worried about keeping his sister away from the boys." he admits with a little bit of amusement. "He's pretty protective over her, though I can kind of understand, she IS very pretty." He says as he watches her skate and how she moves on the ice.

Laughing a little at that observation, Phichit nods a little. "Pretty? She's gorgeous! And she's really nice, too, if you can ever get her away from her brother. Michele would just as soon kill you as let you look at his sister." He snickers a little as he looks up at the screen. "But she's a great skater, too. So are you saying you're interested in stealing her away?" He teases with a comic waggling of his eyebrows at his friend.

"What? N-No! No! That's not what I meant at all!" Yuri exclaims quickly, lifting his hands and flailing them around as if to wave or ward off the accusation, his eyes wide behind his glasses, and a blush staining his pale cheeks.

Phichit tries not to laugh too hard at that reaction, but he can't help but laugh. "I was just teasing you, Yuri." He reassures with a little grin. "Don't worry, I won't tell Michele." He teases with a wink before he sits back and continues to eat his food and watch the last of the Women's single skate.

Still embarrassed from the accusation, Yuri focuses on her food for a moment before he peeks up at the screen when they announce the Single Men's performance, eagerly leaning forward when they show each skater on screen as they enter the ice and wave to the audience. "There he is!" He says with a broad grin and an awed tone to his voice as he watches Viktor glide onto the ice. "Oh. Christophe is there, too." He observes with a small blush.

Looking up from his food, Phichit snickers a little at his friend's reaction and he looks at the competitors. "Wow, it's a great lineup this year. They might give Viktor a run for his money. Hey, isn't Christophe the one you talked about last year that-"

"YES! Yes it is! And there's no need to bring it up again!" Yuri interrupts in a high pitched, overly loud tone as he thinks about the incident, which is just Christophe being a little too handsy but he doesn't like to talk about it because not only was it embarrassing but his reaction to it by practically screaming was pretty much mortifying. Trying to ignore the blush that once again is heating up his face, he instead turns to watch the TV carefully. "I wonder if he read my email yet, or if he's been too busy..." He muses, not realizing that it's been a while since he checked his own email.

Phichit giggles, highly amused by his roommate and finding him so fun to tease sometimes. "He told you to watch his program closely, right? It wouldn't be surprising if he hasn't checked his e-mail. I bet he gets pretty focused before a program. Especially if he is changing part of it like he said in his email. He'll have to integrate it, especially so that it matches the music." He muses, sitting back against the couch and tilting his head. "Looks like he'll be in the second group. That's too bad." He says playfully with a little smile as he looks at his friend.

"That's alright, we can eat and watch the others. We should support all our fellow skaters." Yuri says with a little smile. "Besides, I like to see what the others come up with, sometimes it can be pretty inspiring." He points out as he looks over at the other man, grabbing a little more food to eat as he watches the screen, though he makes sure not to grab too much.

"That's true. There's always someone new coming up." Phichit says as he pours them both some more tea before he sits back with his food to watch the performances, making comments here or there but mostly watching it in silence.

When Viktor steps back onto the ice, Yuri's breath catches and he puts everything side, leaning forward onto the coffee table eagerly, his eyes glued to the television as he watches his idol – no, his friend – skate a lap around the rink before taking his first position. Taking a deep breath, Yuri lets it out slowly as the music starts and Viktor starts to glide across the ice, his movements graceful and expressing the sadness and loneliness not only of himself but of the music as well.

Placing one hand over his mouth as tears prick the edges of his vision, Yuri takes another deep breath as he keeps his eyes glued to the television. Now that he knows a little more about Viktor, about how real he can be, the performance affects him even more. All he can think about is how a solitary life it seems the famous skater has had, from the brief comments that he made throughout the letter and email he got. Has it only been two messages? It feels like so much more to him.

This program is too short to express more than a brief few seconds of hope, making Yuri sigh and reach under his glasses to rub his eyes. "That was beautiful, his best performance of the season." He admits with a little smile, shaking his head for a few moments. "He really ramped it up for this performance, did you see his step sequence?" He asks, glancing over at his roommate with wide eyes, knowing that he is heading into fanboy mode, but with a program like that, how can he not?

"Wow.. yeah, I saw that.. that was a lot different than France, it felt like there was something so hollow about it..." Phichit agrees quietly, staring at the screen for a moment more as he waits for the score, which is high of course, and then he looks over at his friend. "Did he say anything to you?" He asks as he looks at his friend. Realizing he had been leaning forward toward the TV as he became so absorbed, he slowly sits back against the couch, suddenly having the urge to call his family.

Yuri shakes his head a little. "No, I mean.. he briefly mentioned that he was a little lonely but he didn't really say anything beyond that. I've only gotten one letter and one email from him you know." He points out, a little defensively as he wraps his arms around himself. Since Viktor was the last to skate since he had the highest score, they are just wrapping up with interviews and everything now.

"Viktor Nikiforov!" One of the reporters says from the TV. "Your skate today was unlike anything we had ever seen from you. Can you tell us a little about what inspired you?" They ask before the microphone is stuck into Viktor's face.

Giving what Yuri now knows to be an empty smile to the reporters, Viktor just laughs a little. "I think I was just going through a transition in my life where I have not had a lot of time for others in my life and it has become quite lonely. The best way to express myself is through my programs." He says smoothly with a shrug of one shoulder.

"There's been some changes in your programs, both in France and here. Does that mean something has changed in your life?" The astute reporter asks quickly before Viktor can turn away to continue on his way.

Letting out a soft, throaty laugh, Viktor pressed his index finger across his lips for a moment before he says, "There is someone new in my life actually. Someone who eases the loneliness I've started to feel. They couldn't be here tonight, but I hope that person was watching. I have a special surprise planned for tomorrow's performance!" He says cheerfully before looking straight into camera and giving it a wink.

"Someone new! A girlfriend? Is there anything you can tell us about them?" The reporter latches on like a leech to that tidbit, calling out the questions quickly in an effort to try and get more information.

Viktor is a pro though and he just smiles a little and shakes his head. "I'm sorry, that is all I can say. I want to thank everyone for their continued support and I look forward to tomorrow!" He says before giving a little wave and turning to head toward the exit, his coach Yakov intercepting the reporters to make sure that they don't follow, though he looks a bit upset.

The two roommates had fallen silent throughout the interview, but when Viktor walks away, Phichit turns his head very slowly to look over at his friend and fellow skater. "Two letters, you said?" He challenges, as if Yuri had been hiding something from him.

For a moment Yuri stares at the TV in shock, his mouth agape, but when Phichit's words penetrate his fog of shock, he blinks and then shakes his head quickly. "Yes! Just two letters, you saw them both! That's it! I didn't say anything special, he can't be talking about me! I-I'm sure that he's talking about someone else. It's not like I'm anything special!" He objects quickly, waving his hands a little in denial, though he truly believes every word that comes from his mouth. "He couldn't be talking about me..." he says in a more sedate, thoughtful tone, slowly starting too get up and clear away the food dishes, putting away any leftovers as he thinks it over.

Phichit just shakes his head a little at how oblivious the other man can be before he smiles. "I'll take care of that, Yuri. Guess we didn't need the popcorn afterall." He jokes as he follows suit and clears the dishes away, putting the box of popcorn into one of their cabinets. "You should get some rest. You have that paper to finish tomorrow, right? You need to finish it before the Free Skate."

A little distracted by his thoughts, Yuri glances over at the Thai skater and he nods. "Yeah, alright." He says before he makes sure everything is cleaned up and retires to the bedroom where he changes and crawls under the covers, making sure his phone is plugged up before he pulls the stuffed Makkachin over to him. "Could he be talking about me?" He mutters to himself in a slightly breathless tone, smiling and squeezing his eyes shut to try and force himself to sleep.

~oOo~

It's true that Yuri does have a paper due on Monday, which leads him to wake up early to go to the gym at the skate rink to clear his mind. Phichit has training with Coach Celestino, so by the time Yuri gets home and showered he'd all alone and decides to bring his laptop out to the couch. Most of his paper is done, he just has to put some finishing touches on it. It doesn't take him very long and only after he finishes does he think about checking his email to see if Viktor had time to reply.

Seeing the unread message in his mailbox, Yuri takes a slow, deep breath before he clicks on it to read the surprisingly long letter. By the time he finishes reading it, he feels a lump in his chest and a sadness for Viktor being in Quebec and being so lonely even though he's surrounded by people. With a sudden inspiration, he quickly switches screens to go to his search engine and smiles as he finds what he wants.

After checking his watch, Yuri scrambles over to grab his phone and he places his order with a small smile, hoping that Viktor gets his gift before he goes on stage tonight. He has to pay a little more to get it there quickly, but he doesn't mind the little splurge if it will surprise Viktor and put a smile on his face.

With that done, the young man turns back to his computer to reply to the email, though he re-reads it once and then goes to get a picture of him holding the stuffed Makkachin while sitting on the couch, a small smile on his face. With that completed, he transfers the photo to his computer and the starts to compose his email.

~oOo~

Date: Dec 18, 2011, 9:56 AM

From: k-yuri

To: v-nikiforov

Subject: RE: Grand Prix Final

Attachment: Hasetsu . jpg, Makkachin . jpg

Viktor.

Don't ever, EVER, apologize for being yourself. If you're sad or lonely, then be sad or lonely. I want to know everything about you, Viktor, and that includes all of you. If we're going to be friends, I don't want to have to worry if you're putting up a facade like you do with the press and with everyone else. No matter what, I want you to promise that you'll always be honest with me. And I promise to do the same, no mater how embarrassing it might be for me.

I was watching your program last night, and it was by far the best one this season. I am really looking forward to seeing your free skate tonight. You said that you had changed the end of it, right? I can't imagine how you could make it better than it already was, but I'm really looking forward to finding out. Watching you is so inspiring, every time I see one I want to immediately go to the ice, and a part of me wants to recreate it. Did I tell you, when I was younger my friend Yuko and I tried to replicate your programs. I'm sure we were never really good at it, but it was always something to push us just a little more, you know?

The ice has always been a comfort to me, a place where I can go and be myself. It doesn't ever judge me or care how many times I fall, and it's always there for me. I'm sure that you feel the same, from everything you've said and from watching you all these years.

I have a surprise planned for you for today and I hope that you get it before the skate tonight. I tried to get it there in time, but I don't know what your plans are today or when you plan to leave for practice. I know you won't skip practice because you never do, you never stop trying to improve no matter how good you are. You're always practicing and pushing yourself. It's another trait I admire.

I'm not letting any of my school work slide, I promise. I have a paper due tomorrow as part of my Final for that class, but I finished it today so that I can watch the Free Skate tonight. The rest of my Finals are at the end of next week, and then I have Christmas break and the Four Continents Championship , so I doubt I'll have a lot of time for anything besides practicing and competing. So I apologize in advance if I'm not very active with my emails until after the New Year. Are you going to do the European Championships this year? They're awfully close to the Grand Prix Final, right? In January?

I guess it's a stupid question to ask if you're going to participate. I'm sure that you will, or at the very least you'll just get straight to the World's. If you have time, I hope that you'll watch me at the Four Continent's. I think I've improved, but I did well enough at the Nationals and the qualifying competitions for the Grand Prix that I'll get to go. I don't know if I have a shot at winning, probably not, but as long as I keep getting better, that's what I need, right?

I think you'd really enjoy Hasetsu. You know, your eyes remind me of the color of the ocean there.. That's so cheesy, I can't believe I said that. But it's true, I've thought that before, and when I got that picture you sent me, it reminded me again. I'll send you a picture I have, and I've included the picture of the stuffed Makkachin as well that you wanted. So you can see that it got here safely. :)

I'm not sure if any of this is very interesting, I know you said that you wanted me to write you something interesting. The problem is, I don't really know what you'd find interesting. Something about me? Something about my home town?

I don't know if it's weird that I keep bringing this up, but I keep thinking about your junior championship routine, the one from Bulgaria when you still had long hair. That was the very first routine of yours I ever saw, and my whole view of skating changed that day. I was 12 and you were 16. I had been skating for a few years by then, but not in competitions or anything of course. I had never thought that a man could be beautiful before, but I remember thinking that you looked like an angel, with your long silver hair and the graceful way you moved on the ice. That was the first time you surprised me, Viktor. That was the first time I thought maybe I could do something with my skating, and maybe there was more to it. I've never missed a program, even when I had an awful flu one year. And you've never stopped surprising me. There were times when I wished I could repay you for everything that you've given to me. So if you are finding some inspiration from our friendship or there is something I can do to help you, I am more than glad to.

Speaking of, I saw your interview after the skate last night, too. When you mentioned you had met someone recently, were you talking about me? Phichit was giving me a hard time about it all evening, and it was so embarrassing! You know the press is going to be all over you now, thinking that you have a girlfriend or something. You probably shouldn't have said anything like that. I have a feeling you only said it because I promised I would be watching. I do feel a little bit pleased about that, I think.

I'd better go and do some studying now. I'll be watching tonight, and I really look forward to seeing how you changed your program. Whatever hope that you're finding from our friendship, I hope that I can help make it grow until that small, flickering light is so bright it illuminates your entire world.

Your friend,

Yuri.

P.S. What was with the 'xo' after your signature, anyway?

~oOo~

After attaching his pictures, Yuri smiles a little as he re-reads the email for anything that he wants to add or any spelling mistakes and then sends it. Instead of the nervousness that had overtaken him the last few times he sent something to Viktor, this time he just feels a sort of warmth overtake him for a moment, which makes him blush. He was open with the other man, as open as he could think to be, but he's really not sure what Viktor wants from him as far as conversation. He's also fairly sure that it's going to run out pretty quick. He's not that complicated or interesting, at least that's what he thinks.

Finally putting his laptop aside, he pulls over his books and tries to do his studying for his Finals, only taking a break later in the day in order to go to the store and pick up a few things that he needs. He needs a break and just to do something other than sit and stare at books all day. He has lots of time before watching the Free Skate, and time seems to be crawling along as it is.

* * *

 **I don't think I could do this so well if the other characters in this show weren't so well fleshed out. Even if they have minor parts, they still seem like complete characters and not cut-outs with no personality. Also, Yuri is so sweetly innocent. I'm struggling a little with the chapter I'm on right now, but hopefully if I can focus and not get sucked into another computer game, it'll flesh itself out. But don't worry, I've got quite a few chapters done before we get to that one! :)**

 **Thanks to everyone who's still reading, and the wonderful reviews! I really like reading what you guys think. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Reviews/Comments welcome!**


	8. Chapter 8

Viktor should really know by now not to go out with some of the other skaters after competitions. He should have gone back to the hotel to sleep. Instead he went out with Chris to a local restaurant where they had some food and drink. He had a little too much to drink which is why he is waking up a little late with a bit of a hangover.

Groaning, the Russian skater slaps at his alarm before opening his eyes to look at his clock. Almost 10am. He's only going to have a few hours before he should get to the rink for some practice time. Stretching a little, he finally gets up with a small groan, starting himself some coffee before he goes to take a hot shower.

He's barely changed into some practice clothes and poured himself some coffee when the room phone rings and he frowns a little as he goes over to answer it. "Yes, hello?" he asks as he glances toward the window for a moment.

"Bonjour, Mr. Nikiforov." The woman, presumably at the front desk, says, "I have a delivery here for you, would you like me to send it up?"

That was unusual, most of the time any deliveries were sent to the skating venue and not to the hotel itself. "Is there a name, who it's from?" Viktor asks as he takes a drink of his coffee, trying to figure out if Yakov or Chris would have ordered something to send it to him or if there was something that he forgot that Alisa might have sent from Russia. He shudders to think what overnight or two day shipping would be from Russia to Quebec.

"Um, the card says Yuri Cat-Sue-Key." The woman sounds out the last name briefly before she seems confident with it. "Yes, Yuri Katsuki." She repeats as she gains more confidence in what the card says.

Shock shoots through Viktor and he stares at the wall blankly for a moment before he looks around the room. Yuri sent him something? His Yuri? "Sir?" He hears the young woman say before he clears his throat. "Yes, I'm sorry. Please have it sent up." He only hopes that his tone sounds calm as he says goodbye and hangs up the phone, suddenly filled with some nervous energy as he drinks his coffee, having no idea what Yuri might have sent him. Was it something to cheer him up or is it just to surprise him since he did say he liked being surprised?

Clearly whatever it is, his new friend got his last email. Viktor smiles a little as he thinks about the interview he had the night before, telling them about his 'new friend', knowing very well they will take off with that in all the gossip columns. He hopes that Yuri won't be too upset with him, he was very vague afterall and didn't even indicate a gender of the new person he was getting to know. Though given how shy the younger man seems to be, perhaps he should have asked first. Oh well, what is done is done and he can't change it.

When there is a knock at the door, Viktor startles out of his thoughts and he gets up quickly, grabbing a few coins for the tip before he goes to the door, blinking several times to comprehend what the bellhop is carrying. It's a bouquet of flowers, but they're daisies of all things, interspersed with blue corn flowers. It's a very bright and cheery sort of bouquet. Attached to the vase at the bottom is a fairly large pure white stuffed bear with a red bow around its neck.

"Thank you!" He says as he hands the tip over and then takes the bouquet, letting the door fall shut behind him as he walks over to put it down on the dresser. Detaching the stuffed bear, Viktor laughs a little as he looks at it, hugging it to him and rubbing his cheek against the softness of it. After a moment of distraction from the cute bear he finds the card attached and removes it, sitting on the end of his bed to read it.

"Surprise. Something to cheer you up and something to cuddle. Good luck tonight." Viktor reads out loud, smiling and then laughing in delight as he looks from the bouquet and then to the bear still tucked under his arm. "Oh, Yuri... Are you trying to make me fall in love with you?" He asks himself out loud, chuckling a little as he shakes his head, before he tucks the note into his practice bag and lays back on the bed. Holding the bear in both hands at arm's length above his head, he smiles a little as he tilts it back and forth. "I guess he got my email, then. I'll check mine after I finish practice. You stay here and watch the room ok, medved'?" Chuckling a little to himself, Viktor gets up and puts the bear on his bedside table in case the maids come in while he's gone, which they probably will.

After finishing his coffee, Viktor smiles as he grabs his bag and room key, heading out toward practice, his head feeling much better after the happy surprise, and a good breakfast. Once at the rink, he straps his skates on and starts practicing his program, particularly the part at the end which he hasn't perfected quite yet, but after a few hours on the ice he is confident in it, and he knows the change will surprise the judges, even if he hasn't changed any of his technical aspects.

"That was pretty bold of you yesterday, declaring your new interest." Chris walks over toward where Viktor is changing back into his street shoes, having just finished his own practice, though he was already on the ice when Viktor first got there.

"Not really bold, I was just answering the question." Viktor says innocently with a little smile. "It's not as if I told them I had a girlfriend or I was dating someone new." He points out as he looks up at the other man with a little smile.

Chris pouts a little as he looks at the Russian skater. "I'm jealous, you looked so happy and relaxed out there, did something happen this morning? Did your skater friend call to wish you good luck tonight or something?" He asks, pouting a little as he leans back against the barrier that separates them from the ice.

With a little smile, Viktor shakes his head as he looks up at his increasingly nosy competitor and friend. "No, there was no call. There was a surprise though, and you know how I feel about surprises and the unexpected." He says as he gets up, then he stretches. "I think I'm going to go back to the hotel and relax for a little while. Good luck tonight, Chris." He says, not in the mood to spend yet more time with the Swiss skater after the last few days, actually wanting to get back to his room and see if he has an email waiting him. If nothing else, he wants to send the younger man a note thanking him for the thoughtful gift.

"Don't forget the banquet tonight, Viktor.. I expect to hear more about your little pet then." Chris says with a wink and little smirk as he looks at the older man.

Viktor gives Chris is 'public' smile, the closed-lipped polite smile and then he nod. "Perhaps. We'll see how the night goes. Perhaps you could tell me how it's going with your partner as well, you haven't said much about him." He offers before he waves a little as he heads for the door.

Unfortunately, people are starting to come in for the performances which means there is a gathering of fans and press outside, which Viktor finds frustrating. But if there is one thing that's important to him, it's being nice to his fans. So he plasters on his smile and waves to the crowd, taking a few of the papers or books thrust at him with pens. "Of course I'll sign, thank you for your support!" He says in his normal cheerful tone, signing a few things and trying to ignore the cameras in his face. "I look forward to showing you all my free skate tonight. I have a great bunch of competitors this year, I really had to step up my game. But I love a challenge!" He lies easily, having worked harder to push himself of course, but it was because he always wants to push himself more and has nothing to do with his competitors.

When the reporters start shouting questions at him, Viktor just smiles a little. "I'm sorry. I'd like to get some rest before the competition tonight. But I would like to wish good luck to everyone who is skating today. Excuse me." He says politely, glad that the reporters generally respect the skaters and don't hound them too much. With another wave, smile, and wink at his fans, he turns to walk down the sidewalk, security keeping anyone from dashing after him at least.

By the time he gets back to his room, Viktor's mood has dropped a little. He's not usually this antisocial, especially at the Grand Prix. He needs to get himself together and it bothers him that he's not himself this year. Shaking his head firmly to get himself out of his thoughts, Viktor frowns around his hotel room, deciding to take a shower to scrub away some of his wayward thoughts.

As he lets the hot water run over his skin, Viktor turns his face up toward it and thinks about happier things. Like the beautiful bouquet he has. Daisies are so simple, yet happy and bright. A small chuckle comes from him as he thinks about how pure Yuri seems to be. Innocent and perhaps a little sheltered. A perverse part of him wants to ruin that innocence, but mostly he wants to preserve it. It's so easy to get jaded in the skating world, but somehow the younger Japanese skater has kept his optimism.

Once he's dry and settled into more comfortable clothing, Viktor sits down on the bed with his laptop, bouncing a little with boyish excitement as he sees the new mail from his new pen pal. Leaning over, he decides to stretch out on his stomach, feet in the air, to read the new message.

When he finishes reading, Viktor can't help but chuckle a little. Yuri goes back and forth between being opinionated and forward, to meek and shy in the space of a few sentences. He has a feeling it's because the other man just doesn't have confidence in himself. "I wonder what he'll be like once he finally gets some confidence." Viktor muses to himself as he reads the letter again, then opens the two pictures, smiling fondly as he sees the one of Yuri, then looking more closely at the one of Hasetsu.

"Eyes the color of the sea, that's so poetic, Yuri. You keep showing me so many different sides.." Viktor mutters, looking over at the bear on his end table with a small chuckle. "It's time to stop being so melancholy and start being myself again."

~oOo~

Date: Dec 18, 2011, 4:13 PM

From: v-nikiforov

To: k-yuri

Subject: RE: Grand Prix Final

Yuri,

Oh no, I've been scolded. I feel very chastised now. I'm sorry, Yuri, I won't hide anything from you, I'll just be myself! You certainly do have a poetic flare sometimes, don't you? Though I do admit, the color of the water in the picture you sent me is beautiful. And you're not the first one to compare my eyes to water or something like that. I like that you were looking at them that closely though. Careful though, or I might think you're falling in love with me! ;)

I don't mind when you tell me about how you've watched me before. I've been watched for such a long time, and you are a skater, that it would be surprising if you didn't watch at least some of my performances! You made me blush though. You've watched them EVERY year? That's some devotion you have. Maybe I should send you a special autograph, hm?

But you already have an autograph from me technically, since I signed my letter! You're very cute Yuri, sometimes you remind me of a puppy. Would you follow me around with those big doe eyes if you were here with me? Somehow, I don't think you would. I think you are stronger than that. Even through your letters, I can see that you have strength, even if you have doubts in yourself.

I wish I could see you skate in person, but you're right, I'll be working toward World's, but first is the Russian Nationals at the beginning of January. I guess we'll both be pretty busy until the end of the season. Plus you have school, I can't imagine juggling those both as the same time! It must be difficult, but it's good that your university is understanding. I mean, it must be for you to be able to take absences for competitions, yes?

You are right about my interview last night. I was hoping that you were watching. I just wanted everyone to know that you had made a difference. I was very careful in what I said, I didn't even let on about what gender the person in my life is! Even so, they will think that I have a girlfriend I am sure. However, it will die down once they don't see me with anyone new. They're not rabid enough to go through my mail or anything like that. My fans are pretty respectful, which I am grateful for. I'm not going to lie though. The reason things have changed is because I have talked to you. I don't think it's a bad thing for the world to know that one person can make a difference in another person's life. Even if it is someone like me.

Phichit sounds like a very interesting person! You said he was a skater too, right? I'll have to look him up later on. I'm gad that you have such a good friend who can understand your desire to skate. I feel just the same about the ice being a sanctuary. Though it is best when there is no one else in the rink.

I have an idea! If you make it to the World's, we should go out to dinner! I'm sure that you can make it! Wouldn't that be exciting? I know it's still three months away, but I would like that.

Oh, I have to go now and start getting ready for tonight. I look forward to seeing what you think of my program tonight! You are so adorably naive sometimes, Yuri. The 'xo' after my name was a kiss and a hug of course! Enjoy the Free Skate's!

Your friend,

Viktor. Xo

~oOo~

With a pleased smile, Viktor sends off the message and then brings up the images he has so far of Yuri, staring at them for a few moments in thought before he brings up some videos of him skating, finding that the man he's getting to know and the skater to be more similar than he originally thought. However, there is still a gap that he's not able to see yet, and that confuses him.

Shrugging it off, Viktor gets up to dress for the skate tonight, deciding to make Yakov happy and arrive early for the interviews and socializing with the other finalists. He doesn't want them to think that he's elitist and if nothing else, he'll just blame it on the jet lag. This will be just a bump in the road and soon he'll be back to normal.

* * *

 **Sorry! The holiday weekend has totally thrown me off and I almost forgot about updating. I kind of love this chapter. :) I hope you like it as well, and thanks for your reviews and comments, I look forward to hearing what you guys think. Thanks for reading, and enjoy!**

 **Reviews/Comments welcome!**


	9. Chapter 9

"I got another email from Viktor earlier. Well, it was from Friday I think, but I just got it today." Yuuri confesses as he helps Phichit gather food and drinks, since they plan on watching more of the other skaters as well since they both have the time. "He was... I don't know. It was a really nice email. He said he loved being surprised as much as he likes surprising people.. So I, uh.. I sent some flowers and a bear to his hotel." He has been stewing over this all day, not sure if that was the right move or not, nd he needs someone to give him an opinion on it.

Stopping his chopping of some vegetables when Yuri confesses, Phichit slowly turns his head to look at his friend with wide eyes. "Damn, Yuri. I didn't know you had it in you!" He says before slapping him on the shoulder. "I knew you really liked Viktor as a person and skater, but I didn't realize you had such a big crush on him! No wonder you never date." He says with a little laugh, jumping to conclusions like he usually does.

For a moment it's as if Yuri's brain short-circuits. Him, have a crush on Viktor Nikiforov? "WHAT?!" He shrieks, then he shakes his head, red creeping into his cheeks again. "No, Phichit, you've got it all wrong! I don't have a crush on him, it's not like that!" He objects, though he will admit the way he thinks about Viktor's eyes and his gracefulness on the ice sometimes is... more than friendly.

Phichit just smirks a little. "Really? When you talk about his emails you get a funny look on your face, and now you sent him flowers!" He giggles a little, finishing his chopping and depositing the items in the pan where he's vegetables and a little meat for Chow Mei Fun.

"I do not! Stop it, Phichit, it's not funny. I just sent some daisies to cheer him up. Because, you know, daisies are such a cheerful flower, you know?" Yuri says quickly as he looks at his friend, then turns away to hide his blush that just won't go away, to put items down on the coffee table, arranging some pads for the hot dishes that they're going to have. "He's just not been himself, and I want him to be cheerful and goofy again, it suits him better."

Smirking a little at his friend's retreating back, Phichit nods a little. "I guess, if you insist, maybe I did get it wrong. It really seems like you have a big crush on Viktor Nikiforov. But if you say you just sent him flowers to cheer him up, then you sent him flowers to cheer him up." Though his tone clearly says he doesn't believe Yuri, the Thai skater just shrugs a little and finishes his cooking, mixing in the noodles and stirring everything up in the pan before he puts it into a serving dish. "Kind of a girly move though." He can't help but tease just a little more.

Yuri groans a little and he nods. "You're right, it was the wrong thing to do. What was I thinking? I just wanted to surprise him and cheer him up, and what if he gets the wrong idea? I can't remember what I had them put on the note, but I think it was something about cheering him up. He'll understand, right? I mean, fans must give him stuff all the time. Maybe it won't even mean anything to him, maybe he won't even get it. The hotel might intercept it or something." Groaning a little, he sits down heavily on the ground, running his hands through his hair and gripping the back a little as he pulls his knees to his chest. "I knew this was a bad idea, I'm going to do something wrong and totally screw it up, and then he's going to hate me! Viktor Nikiforov is going to hate me!" He whines in despair, folding his arms over his knees and hiding his head in them.

Not unusued to Yuri going through these sort of breakdowns sometimes, Phichit just nods a little with a small smile. "You're overreacting, Yuri." He reassures, bringing the rest of their dinner over ot the coffee table and sitting down beside his roommate. Gently, he puts an arm around the other man's shoulders and gives him a little squeeze. "I was just giving you a hard time. I'm sure he got them and I'm sure he loved them. It would be a surprise, right? You're not the type of person who would usually send someone flowers like that, right?" He points out, trying to encourage his friend. "And I'm fairly sure Viktor isn't the kind of person to hate anyone. This is just your anxiety talking." He reassures, patting Yuri's hair gently since that seems to calm him down sometimes. If he's like this now though, Phichit wonders what he might be if he ever gets to meet Viktor in person. Somehow, he doubts his friend will be able to get a coherent word out. Hopefully he won't faint.

After taking a few deep breaths, Yuri slowly tilts to the side a little so he's leaning into Phichit, lifting his head enough to rest it on the other boy's shoulder. "I know.. Another reason why this isn't going to last. We're both going to be so busy over the next few months, he'll probably forget about me by the time the World Championships come around. And then if I ever make it to the Grand Prix before he retires, he probably won't even recognize my name." He says in a sad tone, sighing a little as he glances around the room, before he slowly sits up and fidgets with his glasses to settle them back into the right place. "I shouldn't focus on that though. The Free Skate is tonight and I promised I would watch and cheer him on. So that's what I'm going to do.

"That's the spirit!" Phichit encourages, patting him on the back and waiting for Yuri to sit up before removing his arm and scooting forward a bit so he can eat properly at the coffee table. "We should cheer on the girls, too. At the very least we can cheer on Sara Crispino. She'll never know it, but that doesn't mean we can't lend her spiritual support!" Thrusting one fist up into the air, the boy grins a little and then grabs some food onto his plate to eat as they watch the tail end of the Pair's skate.

"Yeah, of course. It'd be selfish of us not to cheer them on, too." Yuri says with a smile and a nod, still seeming a little subdued though. He can't help but worry about the future, it's in his nature. And that anxiety is behind most of his problems on the ice. He still isn't sure why Viktor seems interested enough to talk to him. He's nothing special and he's not interesting. He's probably not even going to be able to surprise Viktor for long, and when that happens, Yuri is sure that the older man is going to lose interest in him. Which is ok and it makes sense, but if that's going to happen he hopes it happens sooner rather than later because he can already feel himself getting attached to the Russian skater. Maybe it's because he'd always been Yuri's idol, maybe it's because the man himself makes it so easy. And while the younger man knows that he shouldn't expect anything, shouldn't even be getting attached to even the smallest degree, his emotions are not really paying attention to his mind. And he knows that already, when Viktor gets tired of this game he's playing, it will hurt.

Yuri barely notices the food he's eating or most of the women's skate because he's so deeply lost in thought, going over everything in his head again that has been said, trying to see if there is anything unusual that would indicate that he was being insincere in some manner. There's nothing that he could see however. If anything, he seems to be real, more real than Yuri could have imagined, revealing so much of himself, or at least his feelings. Unless all of it was fake. But surely Viktor couldn't be that cruel, could he? He wouldn't be writing these letters and emails while all the time he's laughing behind his computer screen at his stupid, gullible Japanese fan.

No, No. Stop it. Shaking his head a little, Yuri frowns at himself. He will not allow himself to think that way. There is no way that Viktor would be that cruel. Not with how nice he always is to reporters and fans alike, even when they get intrusive. And the letter make too much sense, given his program this year. Yuri sighs a little as he tries to focus on the Women's Single skate. Maybe he should write this all down in an actual letter to Viktor. Put it on paper, make sure the older man knows how much of a problem his anxiety can be sometimes. Then again, is that really a good idea, would it put the Russian on edge, afraid of what he might say or do that might send him into a spiral? Ugh, so many things to consider. But in general, Yuri thinks it's better to be truthful, so maybe he will write it down. But not until after the New Year. For now, he will focus on the TV and watching Viktor skate. And later on, he will focus on his own skating so he can be prepared for the Japanese Nationals. And after that, if he still thinks it's a good idea, then he'll write the letter.

Though Sara Crispino doesn't get on the podium, the fact that she was in the final six was still impressive, and true to their promise, Yuri and Phichit cheer her on during her performance. When it's time for the Men's Single skate, Yuri leans forward toward the screen a little."Viktor is going to go last again, right? He had the top score from the short program..." He muses as he tries to figure that out as the skaters get onto the ice.

Phichit just nods a little. "Yeah, looks like. No one is missing, so that's good. Remember a few years ago, one of the skaters injured themselves in practice and had to forfeit their spot." He reminds his friend before popping a grape in his mouth.

"Yeah, I remember. I was watching it, and I felt so bad, because they showed him just crying with his coach, and his ankle was all wrapped up. I can't imagine that happening. He was one of the top contenders for that, too, wasn't he?" Yuri asks as he glances over at Phichit for a moment, then he looks back at the TV, before he slowly gets up and takes empty plates to the kitchen. Looking over at the screen often, he gets down the popcorn they didn't make the night before and pops it into the microwave before moving to a place where he can see the TV easier.

Besides leaning back to let Yuri step over him, Phichit doesn't get up, eating another grape out of his bowl. "Yeah, everyone thought that he would be in the top three.. I can't remember his name.." he says with a little frown, sighing. "That doesn't happen very often, but I guess it's always a risk. Just not one we ever think about. You haven't ever had any major injures, right Yuri?"

"Nope, I've been pretty lucky that way, considering how many times I fall. I've gotten bruises, scrapes, and a twisted ankle or two, but nothing really serious." Yuri says thoughtfully with a little shrug , half listening for the popcorn but mostly watching the first skater.

"Lucky, when I was younger I twisted my ankle so bad I couldn't even walk for two weeks. And it took a while before I could get back on the ice." Phichit says with a small pout. "You really are in prime condition for a skater." He says a little jealously as looks Yuri over slowly, evaluating him for a moment.

"Except for skill and talent, Phichit. Physicality can only take you so far, and you know I gain weight easily. So it's not like I'm so perfect." Yuri says a little defensively, pulling the popcorn out and dumping it into a bowl before the timer goes off, so none of it gets burned, then he returns to the seat in front of the couch. "Oh.. that's too bad, he was doing really well.." He says as one of the skaters falls down on the ice, but immediately gets up to continue his performance.

Phichit scoffs and shakes his head. "You have plenty of skill and talent, Yuri. Trust me, if I had your stamina alone, I would be ranking higher." Shaking his head a little at the TV, he adds, "Ciao Ciao is right, you need to have more confidence, Yuri." He continues to watch as the skater finishes his routine, crossing his arms over his chest. At times he's jealous of Yuri's stamina and skill, but he doesn't let that get him down. No one can move or do the routines that he can do, and he knows he's unique.

Yuri chooses not to reply to his roommate's comments about confidence, because it's not like he doesn't know that already. "Score wasn't bad, considering." He says as he watches one skater get his score and the next one get on the ice. "Ugh.. Christophe's routines are always so awkward to watch. I mean, a lot of them are just so.. sexual." Groaning, the skater puts both hands over his face for a moment before he peeks out at the older man at the ice, finally rubbing both hands down his face and nodding a little to himself.

"You gotta admit, he's really good at it through." Phichit points out as he watches without the shame or embarrassment that Yuri always gets, just tilting his head a little as Chris starts his performance. "It's interesting to watch him throughout the season, too, because he always starts off slow but by the time he gets to the Grand Prix he's really polished." He points out before he shrugs a little, grabbing some of the popcorn that Yuri had brought back.

"That's true. He's only been in the Senior circuit for a few years now, has he ever been on the podium for the Grand Prix before?" He asks curiously as he looks over at his friend, trying to remember but he doesn't always pay the most attention to anyone but Viktor.

Shaking his head a little Phichit swallows his food before speaking. "No, I don't think so. At least not that I've ever seen, but I'm not the expert." He teases as he looks over at his friend with a little bit of a smirk. "Viktor's up next, so you better get ready." He teases his friend as Chris finishes his program and then makes his way off the ice to the Kiss and Cry.

Yuri nods a little, shifting to get comfortable and leaning forward a little as Viktor takes the ice. "He said that he changed the ending of his program somewhat, to reflect his recent change in feelings. I wonder what he did. I doubt he would change any of the technical elements because that's already pretty good and it'd be harder to change those than performance elements. And the performance is what really conveys the message." He says as he thinks about it, waiting eagerly as the music starts and Viktor makes his first glide across the ice.

"Pretty risky, to be changing things up at the last minute like this. Wouldn't it be awful if he lost because he changed it?" Phichit asks with a laugh that cuts short from the absolute, yet brief, death glare he gets from his roommate. "Which I'm sure won't happen, because it's Viktor, and he wouldn't change it if he wasn't certain." He adds quickly, a little intimidated because he's never seen his friend look quite so angry before. Subtly, he puts one hand over his heart and takes a deep breath, swearing that he just had a miniature heart attack.

The other man doesn't reply though, just focusing all his attention on the screen to the point of unconsciously swaying back and forth when Viktor seems to move from one side of the screen to the other because of the camera angles. "I wonder what this would look like live.." He mutters about halfway through, and mostly to himself as he watches in awe, with tears building in his eyes a little at how lonely – heartbroken even – the Russian seems out on the ice.

And then the ending starts to build and Viktor's movements become quickly, more energetic as he expresses his hope, everything building upwards and a small smile coming across his face as he spins around the ice, even adding in a jump split which he executes perfectly of course. He ends with his arms out and slightly upward as if embracing the future, a look of joy on his face.

"Oh my god." Phichit says in surprise as the piece finally ends and he takes a deep breath. "Damn, Yuri. I guess your letters mean more to him than you thought if that's how he feels about it." He's done teasing or giving Yuri a hard time about it because even for him, he feels an ache in his chest that to him feels like homesickness. The desire for that kind of joy which for him is brought on by his family and his homeland.

Yuri continues to stare for a few moments before he rubs one of his eyes. "Y-yeah." His voice cracks and he clears his throat for a moment before tilting his head down to look at the coffee table. "That was amazing... He's always coming up with new things.." He mutters mostly to himself, envious of the way that Viktor can perform so wonderfully in front of everyone, wishing he could learn how to do that, or at least learn something. For a moment, he wishes he was back in Hasetsu so he could go down to Hasetsu Ice Castle and skate, knowing that Yuko would let him if it was free. At that moment there's nothing the young man wants more than to have his skates gliding across the ice.

Phichit nods a little as he waits for the scoring and to no one's surprise in their small apartment, Viktor wins gold, by a pretty good margin. "Looks like the judges liked it, too! That was an amazing score, he even broke a world record, Yuri!" He says with a little more excitement, patting his friend's back excitedly with a little grin.

Returning his friend's smile, he chuckles a little and nods. "Yeah. I'm really glad that all his work wasn't for nothing." He says with a small nod of his head. "It was an amazing program and he really deserves it. Oh, and look, Chris got silver! I bet he's happy." Yuri says with a little smile, imagining how happy the skater would be, though he would no doubt be pouting about Viktor so easily taking away gold from him. When his cellphone starts to vibrate, he picks it up. "It's Mari.. I'm gonna take this." He says as he gets up and goes to the bedroom before answering. "Hey, Mari."

"Hey there. Sorry if I'm calling late." Mari says, the sounds from the other end showing she's currently outside, probably smoking. "How's it going?"

Yuri smiles a little, since it's good to hear from his sister. "No, I just got done watching the Grand Prix Final, actually. Did you guys watch it?" He ask after doing the mental math to figure out what time it is there.

"Minako and Yuko were here watching it. They came over for breakfast. Not often you see them here that often." Mari muses thoughtfully, letting out a slow breath after a few moments of silence meaning she probably is smoking.

"That's good, I mean that they could go over there and watch it. It was really amazing. How are things going there?" Yuri asks, sitting down on his bed and looking over at the stuffed poodle with a fond smile.

"You know, the usual. Yu-Topia's doing pretty well, even though it's winter. Better than in the past few years, so there's that. Mom and dad miss you. How have classes been? I don't think I've talked to you since this summer." Mari says in her usually dry tones as she thinks about it.

Yuri smiles a little as he settles back, closing his eyes a little as he imagines what Hasetsu would look like right now. "That's great. I'm glad things are going well. I miss you guys, too. But classes have been good, and Coach Celestino has been teaching me a lot, I think I'll do really well. I mean, I know I didn't do that well in competitions this year, but I'll be doing a different routine for the Japanese Nationals, one that Celestino has helped me with and I think it's a lot better. I'm living in an apartment with Phichit Chulanold, he's a fellow skater, and he's great. We get along really well."

"That's great, kid. Glad things are working out for you there. I'll let our parents and the others know that you'll be doing the Nationals here, they might want to come visit while you're here." Mari muses as she thinks about it, though it's unlikely their parents have the time or money to travel anywhere. Minako might go though, she does have a track record of supporting Yuri by going to his events whenever she can.

"Thanks, Mari. I appreciate it. Anything else going on there?" Yuri asks curiously, never having been one to talk a whole lot to his sister so now he's not really sure what to talk about.

"Nah. Just the usual. Listen, I gotta go inside and help mom and dad out with getting ready for lunch, I just wanted to call you for a minute and see how you were doing. Don't forget to call once in a while, alright?" Mari asks in a slightly scolding tone since her brother does have a habit of forgetting everything that isn't skating.

Yuri just nods a little and smiles as he tilts his head back against the wall. "Alright, that's fine. I'll try and call more often. I gotta get to sleep anyway, Finals are this week so I gotta study." He explains to let his sister off the hook, not wanting her to feel guilty about keeping him up or anything.

Mari just snickers a little on the other end. "Good luck with that. Have a good night, Yuri. See ya." She says before she hangs up.

Getting up from his bed and stretching, Yuri changes into his pajamas while he's there, and then walks back to the livingroom. "Hey, I think I'm going to turn in early, maybe get up and try to go for a run or hit the gym or something before I study." He says before he goes over to try and help Phichit clean up first.

"Hey, no problem.." Phichit says before he swats at Yuri's hands. "Just leave it, I'll clean it up." he reassures with a small smile. "I'm gonna be up for a while yet anyway. I might still clean out some of this stuff." He says with a grin, patting his stomach which continues to stay flat pretty much no matter what he eats.

Yuri playfully glares at him. "I hate you, you know that, right?" He asks, but he relents, only grabbing himself a glass of water. "Goodnight, Phichit." he says with a little wave as eh heads back to the bedroom.

Laying down on the bed, Yuri stretches out and then sighs, knowing he wants to send Viktor a quick message before he goes to sleep but not sure if he has the energy to get up and retrieve his laptop. Deciding instead that he can do it from his phone, he quickly loads it up, sees he has a new message and resolves to read it tomorrow, instead opening up a fresh email and carefully tapping out his message.

~oOo~

Date: Dec 19, 2011, 4:13 PM

From: k-yuri

To: v-nikiforov

Subject: Congratulations!

Viktor,

Your program was incredible tonight. I don't have the words to express it well enough yet. It's getting late and I have practice plus studying to get done tomorrow. But I wanted to say congratulations! Another Grand Prix medal, it's amazing! AND you broke a world record! The way you changed your piece is extraordinary. I'm sorry I won't get to see any interviews or the press conference, but I'll definitely look them up tomorrow. And I haven't read your email yet either. I'll try to do that tomorrow, too. Looks like my plate is going to be pretty full.

Anyway, Congratulations. You deserve every single praise you get tonight. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll get to see you at world's, though I'm pretty sure I'm just being foolishly optimistic at this point.

Have fun at the banquet tonight, and congratulations again, Viktor! It was amazing. Goodnight!

Your Friend,

Yuri.

~oOo~

Knowing that it is shorter and less articular than most of his emails, Yuri wrinkles his nose a little, hoping that Viktor will forgive the shortcoming and appreciate the effort he made rather than waiting much longer to get any sort of email since it will probably be the next night before he gets time.

Putting his phone on its charger Yuri snuggles down in his bed with the stuffed Makkachin, sighing a little as he sets his glasses aside and then closes his eyes, drifting off into the dreamland of skating and silver hair...

* * *

 **The boys are being mean and the weather needs to make up its mind.**

 **I hope you like this chapter, and thanks as always for your reviews. As you might be able to tell, I am having a slight issue with writing right now. Hopefully that will resolve soon, though! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and as always, let me know what you think!**

 **Reviews/Comments welcome!**


	10. Chapter 10

**NOTE: I used names from real life skaters who won/placed during the 2011 Grand Prix, but I only used names and nationalities, I literally know NOTHING about these people, or their skating. Also, this is a work of FICTION, so obviously none of it is true anyway. :)**

* * *

Everything after the performance is sort of a blur for Viktor. It's the same thing, the podium, skating across the ice for the photos, even thanking everyone for their support. Even if he does have someone else in mind besides his usual coach, fans and fellow skaters. It's not until he can change his clothes that he really starts to relax, smiling a little when he thinks of the last part of his performance, playing it over in his mind for a moment as he wonders what Yuri thought of it. He's sure the younger skater was watching, there's no doubt in his mind about that.

There are just some things that he can't properly express through words, this feeling he has when he thinks about Yuri being one of them. Viktor knows that it's odd to put so much on one person, but there's never been another person in his life like the shy Japanese man. Everyone around him has always been confident and sure of themselves. The same way he feels about himself. To see everything from the other side, from a different perspective, is refreshing and fascinating. There's more to it than that, but the buzz of adrenaline is still in the Russian's system which makes it hard for him to concentrate and focus on it.

By the time there's a knock on Viktor's dressing room door, he's finishing packing up his case. "Yes, come in." He says politely as he looks over at the door expectantly. And a tiny irrational sliver of his brain briefly daydreams about how wonderful it would be if Yuri were to step through the door.

The very opposite of the gentle, shy and innocent Yuri, Viktor's coach, Yakov is the one who opens the door with a frown on his face. Which is pretty much his default expression. "You did well tonight, Vitya. But if you ever pull a stunt like that again, you will be in big trouble. Changing your program without telling me?" He asks, his voice raising in his displeasure.

Viktor just smiles a little at his coach, taking his scolding in stride. "I'm sorry, Yakov. I wasn't sure I was going to do it until I got out on the ice." He half lies, since he was sure earlier in the afternoon that he was going to do it. "But it was a great success, yes?" He asks with a slightly brighter smile.

"You are lucky it was. What made you change it, the ending is unlike you." Yakov notes, since for the most part Viktor has always chosen programs that are graceful, gentle and sometimes somber, but he's never been one to use music with a quick tempo which requires fast movements and foot work. Not that he couldn't, it's just not his preference from the older Russian's experience.

"Is it? Well, perhaps I should change that." Viktor says sweetly while somewhat dodging the question since he doesn't want to tell his coach about Yuri just yet. "Is the press waiting for us?" He asks as he slips on his red and white Russia jacket, zipping it up to hide his rather normal t-shirt he's wearing underneath.

While knowing that his pupil is dodging him and yet not knowing if there is anything he can do about it, Yakov merely nods a little. "Yes, they and the other skaters are waiting. You took too long. You should be more considerate of others." He scolds again before he turns and walks out, leading the way to the little hall where they have the table set up for the press conference.

Viktor approaches the stage and he smiles a little at the two men that got Silver and Bronze, shaking their hands and posing with them with a smile before he takes a seat in the middle and glances around at the small crowd of reporters and cameras.

"Chrstophe!" One of the reporters starts, lifting a hand. "How does it feel to get so close yet with such a large margin between yourself and Viktor?" The man asks, getting right to the hart of the matter.

Fortunately, like the professional that he is, Chris just waves his hand a little in dismissal. "I consider it an honor to finally be standing beside Viktor on the podium. It may be my first time but I look forward to repeating the performance. Viktor is an incredible skater who deserves the gold he won today. His program was just wonderful. But that's alright, it just gives me something to strive for next year. If I were to beat him so soon it would be boring, ya?" He asks with a wink at the crowd and a flirty smile.

"Speaking of the performance. Viktor, you changed it at the last minute and you mentioned in another interview that there was someone special in your life, is it a girlfriend?" One of the female reporters quickly latches onto that line of questioning as she shouts out to the skaters.

Smiling sweetly at the crowd, Viktor just tilts his head to the side a little. "You're going to embarrass me! No, that person is not a girlfriend." He reassures, still trying to be vague about gender. "But you're right. I did change my program because of meeting them. It wasn't for them, but merely to express to the world that my recent outlook has changed, since this year I was inspired by my own feelings rather than a particular story I wanted to tell." He explains as he looks at the reporter. "I do hope they approve, though! They're a great fan of skating, so I am sure they saw it." He gushes a little, putting one hand against his cheek with a slightly broader grin.

"Were they able to make it here to see you tonight?" Another reporter asks from the side, the personal questions always being more popular than the same old questions about technique, performance, etc. So whenever something comes up they tend to latch onto it. Figure Skating fans go nuts for gossip.

Viktor glances over and he looks sad for a moment. "Unfortunately no. They had plans and events in their own life which meant they could not attend. That's alright though. I'm glad everyone got to see me skate today, I have had such a warm welcome here in Quebec!" He says cheerfully, trying to make it clear that he is done talking about Yuri, and that they should start asking other questions.

The questions thankfully move away and to the other competitors as well, no one asking about next year quite yet because this is just the start of the championships and there are at least two more that Viktor is planning on competing in, which means the next three months are going to be very busy for him.

When it finally ends, Viktor sighs as he gets up. "Congratulations again, Chris. Your performance was spectacular this year. Will you be going to the European Championship?" He asks curiously, knowing that both of them are eligible for that.

Chris smiles a little. "You know I will, I have to try and beat you and get to World's, no matter what venue it's at. Someday I will beat you here at the Grand Prix though, Viktor." He says in his normal flirty tone. "Will I see you at the banquet tonight?"

Considering that because he has forgotten about it, Viktor just smiles. "The banquet! I almost forgot. Of course I'll be there! I look forward to seeing everyone. I had better get back to the hotel so I can dress properly for it, I wouldn't want to be an embarrassment to Yakov and Russia." He says sort of half jokingly as he thinks about it, giving a small little shrug.

"Alright, then.. I look forward to seeing you there, Viktor." Chris says before he turns to head off with his own coach, pausing to smile and wave at some fans hoping for pictures.

"Come, Viktor. Let us get back to the hotel and get cleaned up. We should have time for something toe at before hand." Yakov says as he comes up beside his skater.

For once, Viktor doesn't argue, he just nods a little. "Of course, Yakov." He says before he follows him toward the exit, smiling and waving at some of the fans, giving a group of girls a wink which makes at least half of them swoon over and makes him chuckle lightly to himself. He's honestly not sure what it is about him that makes them do that. He knows he's above average in looks, but he's certainly not a movie star or anything like that.

On his way back to the hotel he thinks about that, reaching up to play with some of the fringe that occasionally covers one of his eyes, twisting a lock of it around in his fingers for a few moments. He's never thought of himself as unattractive, and while he can't see the appeal himself, he has used his looks to get his way occasionally. Taking advantage of how other people react is probably not a great thing to do, but no one ever said he was perfect.

Shrugging it off with his usual dismissive manner, Viktor smiles at the hotel staff as he makes his way through and then heads to his room to get ready for the banquet, loading up his computer to see if there might be anything from his eager young friend. By the time he's showered and shrugging into his dress shirt, he sees the email and pouts a little as he at first sees the overall length. But, he supposes it is quite later and Yuri did previously say he had Finals this week, and almost right after he has a competition. So Viktor can't be too upset with him, he has to learn to be patient and give the younger man time to do what he needs to do.

Giving a small smile at the monitor at the brief, yet heartfelt email, Viktor shakes his head for a few moments. 'I really must get him to be more confident in himself.' He thinks fondly before stepping away to finish getting ready, primping a little in front of the mirror before he smirks and grabs his cellphone, taking a picture of himself holding up the Victory sign and a faint smile on his face, before he opens a brief email to send a message with it.

~oOo~

Date: Dec 19, 2011, 10:13 PM

From: v-nikiforov

To: k-yuri

Subject: Good luck!

Attachment: 20111219-181140 . jpg

Yuri,

I'm sorry I kept you up so late, but I'm glad you got to see my performance. Thank you. Don't worry about those silly interviews or anything like that, I'm certainly not expecting you to watch them. And do not stretch yourself too much to reply to me. You need to be sure to get your rest and study this week for your Finals. Perhaps after then you can respond properly if you don't have time beforehand.

Good luck with your Finals this week, and I've attached a little picture for good luck! I'm just about to go to the banquet, and had a few minutes' to kill before I left. I'm sure you'll do better with your performance than you think, and I'll be sure to watch them!

Good luck and pleasant dreams!

Your Friend,

Viktor

~oOo~

Nodding to himself about his brief email, Viktor presses send just as there is a knock – more of a pounding really – at his door,

"Viktor! It is time for us to leave!" Yakov yells from the other side of the door in his usually burly way.

Smiling slightly at the antics of his coach, Viktor makes sure he has his hotel key and phone before he heads to the door. "No need to be so loud, you'll wake people, Yakov." He scolds his coach before he steps out the door and shuts it behind him. "I was just gathering my key and phone." The Russian skater explains before he walks away and toward the elevator.

"You're actually on time for once, I'm surprised. It's not as if you have anything to be ashamed of, you won the Gold Medal, so I do not understand why you always procrastinate over these things." Yakov grumbles before he turns to look at the retreating back of his skater. "Don't walk away from me, Vitya!" He yells angrily before he stomps after his charge, stabbing the elevator button angrily.

Standing there casually as he waits for the elevator, Viktor just offers his empty, fake publicity smile to his coach. "I'm not ashamed. I just like to be fashionably late." He says in a sweet tone, though it's partially a lie. He never really has fun at the banquets, having been to so many that they're all just the same to him anymore. So there's no sense of anticipation, no need to preen and show off like he might have when he was much younger.

Yakov just snorts a little as he steps onto the elevator, knowing his star skater well enough to know that he's not really telling the truth but there's no need to dive into it. He only interferes with his skater's lives when it starts to affect their performance. Otherwise, he doesn't care what they do. He's not the type who is touchy-feely, even if he is proud of them when they win.

Content to be silent, Viktor puts his hands in his pockets as he enters the elevator and waits for it, watching the numbers tick down. At least he should know some of the people there, so that will be nice. Maybe he'll get to chat with them a little. A few glasses of champagne and the night should fly by – or so he hopes.

By the time they get to the hall, the gathering is in full swing, and Viktor smiles a little to a few people, nodding politely. Yakov moves off quickly to talk to another coach which suits him just fine.

"Man, you got another gold, it's kind of a given at this point. Don't suppose you're going to retire anytime soon?" A young man asks that Viktor recognizes as Patrick Chan, the Canadian that made Bronze.

Viktor smiles a little and shakes his head. "Not yet, I'm afraid, Patrick" He says before he chuckles. "I don't know about it being a given. It's not as if I slack off. Otherwise you or Christophe might overtake me! You did well out there today." He says with a small nod of his head as he lifts his champagne glass in a silent salute.

Patrick just snorts a little and shrugs. "Not like you can tell that you've been practicing so hard, but I know you do. Don't slack off, or I might catch you next year!" He says, patting Viktor on the back with one hand before he heads toward a group of female skaters, apparently willing to take this golden opportunity.

Viktor smirks a little as he looks after the other man. He likes Patrick, though they've always been more competitive than friendly, but he finds him a little predictable. And at least from his point of view, being predictable is the worst thing that can happen to a skater.

The next person coming to talk to Viktor is someone he'd much rather talk to, the Gold medalist for the Ladies' Senior division, Caroline Kostner from Italy. She also can be seen giving the Crispino twins a hard time sometimes, though they don't share a coach and are in different divisions. But being from the same country can create bonds at events like these.

Sliding her hand up to Viktor's shoulder, Carolina looks up at him and smiles a little. "Hello Viktor, it's good to see you again." She says before leaning up to kiss both his cheeks, a greeting that the taller man returns.

"And you as well, Carolina. Congratulations on the gold medal. I'm sorry I didn't get to see your performance, but I'm sure you deserved it." The Russian replies with a polite smile as he looks down at her.

"Of course I deserved it, otherwise they wouldn't have given it to me." Carolina scolds lightly. "I, however, did catch your performance. It was spectacular, I've never seen you change the feel of your performance so much from beginning to end. That must be some inspiration you found. I'm happy for you." She says with a small smile as she pats his bicep a little.

Putting his hand to his chin in thought as he mentally reviews his past routines, Viktor nods a little. "You are probably right, I don't remember all of them." He says politely with a small smile. "But yes, I found an incredible amount of inspiration from this person." Once again he phrases his answer carefully to avoid using any pronouns which would indicate gender. Not only does he not want Yuri harassed if they somehow find out it's him, but he doesn't want the media storm either. It's bothersome, and it's better to keep them hanging like this.

Carolina considers for a few moments. "You haven't ever said.. is it a woman or a man?" She asks the pointed question as she narrows her eyes slightly, obviously digging for information.

"You're right, I haven't ever said." Viktor says smoothly with a little smile. "You're being so pushy tonight, Carolina! Are you jealous? Or perhaps you've had too much champagne." Tilting his first glass, half empty, toward hers, he just smiles a little, knowing that one of those two guesses will elicit a response which he can hopefully manipulate away from this line of questioning.

Frowning at her fellow medalist, Carolina's voice is sharper and accent slightly thicker when she replies. "I am not jealous! I am in a committed relationship right now, Viktor. I knew you were vain, but I didn't think it went that deep. You think just because I'm curious, I have to be after you as well, like all of those fluttering fangirls that stalk your every move?" She demands as she looks at him. "I've half a mind to throw this champagne in your face. For your information, this is only my second glass and I am not so much of a lightweight as that." Her tone goes cold and harsh and she frowns a little as she glares at the other skater.

Glad his plan worked and not really surprised at the temper from the younger, Viktor just gives her an apologetic smile. "Forgive me, Carolina! I didn't mean to imply anything by it. I was just joking! I never knew you were so sensitive." He says with a little bit of amusement and a small chuckle. "What does Michele Crispino think about your temper, hmm? I've seen you talking with the twins a lot, and I did not see you paying much attention to Sara." He says with a little smirk as he looks at her. A little defensiveness and hopefully she'll either abandon him or try a completely different line of conversation. That's the hopeful outcome at least.

"What?" Carolina asks in surprise as she stares at him. "I do not like Michele! He's got too much of a complex about his sister. He's interesting to tease though, and a little dense." She notes with a bit of amusement, shaking her head for a moment, though her tight bun doesn't even so much as move. Something that fascinates Viktor a little.

"Yes, he is a little clingy of his sister, it seems. I hope that is merely brotherly love and not anything inappropriate. That would be a horrible scandal." Viktor admits sadly. He's seen awful scandals ruin skaters before and it's never a pretty thing. Which is one of many, many reasons he's mostly kept to himself and attempts to stay out of the public eye as much as possible. Thankfully the paparazzi don't usually hang out outside the home rinks of any of the skaters. Even him.

Carolina nods a little, her previous question apparently forgotten for now. "That's true. But I don't think it's inappropriate, I think he's just very overprotective of his sister. She's very pretty, I'm sure she gets a lot of unwanted attention." She points out, attention drifting as she glances around them. "I should go and find my coach, make sure she is not drinking too much. It was good seeing you, Viktor." With a small wave of her fingers at him, the younger skater turns and heads away in search of her coach.

Letting out a little sigh when she leaves, Viktor nods and runs a hand through his hair. That was maybe unnecessary, but it was also a close one. He's glad she wasn't more tenacious with her questioning. Which also means he is not the focus of her interest, not off the ice. Also a good thing.

The rest of the banquet goes by quietly and without more than polite pleasantries and expected conversation passing between the Russian skater and those he encounters. When he thinks he's been there quite long enough and the crowd starts to thin out, Viktor takes himself out as well, especially since he doesn't see Yakov and assumes the man probably drank too much champagne. How his coach can drink quite a bit of Vodka and not be fine, but Champagne ruins him is often a source of amusement and something Viktor thinks is mostly mental for his coach.

Being a little fuzzy from the champagne himself, it takes Viktor a few tries before his key card works in the lock and he sighs as he gets inside, stripping and dropping his clothes with no care to their price or the condition they might be in when he wakes up. He'll just have them dry cleaned and pressed, it's not like he has to wear any of it another day. Deciding that packing up tonight is not going to happen, the silver-haired man flops down on his bed, opening his phone to the pictures of Yuri and flipping between them. There may only be two, but they're both so different. "Goodnight, Yuri. Sleep well." He mutters in Russian to his phone before hooking it up to charge and closing his eyes, asleep a few moments later.

* * *

 **Here we go, schedules apparently don't work for me. Sorry! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, thanks for reading! And thanks for your reviews, as always.**

 **Reviews/Comments welcome!**


	11. Chapter 11

Although Celestino had been trying to take it a little easier on his skaters this week because he knows that they have school work to do, when Yuri falls for the third time on a Salchow which previously has been his best jump, he gets a little frustrated. "Yuri! What is wrong with you today?!" He demands, shouting across the ice at the man who is slowly getting up. It's been two days since the Grand Prix Final. Celestino thought it would help, not having that distraction and knowing that they're working toward the Nationals. But it seems to have just made things worse.

"Sorry, coach! I'll do better!" Yuri calls as he gets up, wiggling around a little to make sure he didn't hurt himself before he pushes off and starts his routine again. Nationals are yet another competition and Viktor will be watching him this time. Viktor will see what a failure he is, and those thoughts have haunted him for the past few days. Shaking his head a little to try and clear his head, Yuri brushes back some hair from his face before he starts the section of his routine that he's working on, taking a few deep breaths.

Celestino frowns a little as he watches his skater. He hasn't been working with Yuri for long yet and so doesn't know all of his quirks yet, especially since the boy seems to be so self-contained. He doesn't really talk to Celestino much about his thoughts about the program or preferences for music or choreography. The biggest problem being confidence. Yuri Katsuki lacks confidence in himself as a skater and it really shows. The program he designed for the young man should take advantage of Yuri's performance ability yet still having the technical score that they would need to win. Every failure is a knock to his confidence though, and this last one seems to have been the worst.

Phichit steps up beside the coach, having finished stretching since he has some practice time after Yuri. Shaking his head a little, he sighs. "He's not doing too great today, is he, coach?" Technically they may be competitors on the ice, even if they do share a coach at the moment, but that doesn't keep him from worrying about his friend.

"No, he is not. He's thinking too much, I don't understand what's going on inside of his head." Celestino admits, wincing as Yuri flubs another jump. Even though it wasn't a fall, it was far from a steady landing.

Nodding a little for a few moments, Phichit sighs a little. "It's probably better just to let him go home for the day. It might help him just to have some time to relax instead of hurting himself more and more every time he falls." He points out as he looks over at his coach, worried about Yuri and thinking that if his roommate has some time and space to be alone, it might help clear his mind.

Frustrated but not seeing another way to get any good practice out of his skater today, Celestino just nods a little. "Alright, Yuri, that was a good effort, but lets call it a day. Go home, and make sure to have a hot bath and use some of that bruise cream you have!" He says, scolding him in a bit of a motherly way. Something about Yuri brings that out in the older man. Another conundrum.

"Yes, Coach." Yuri says in a slightly dejected way as he heads toward the exit off the ice, sighing a little but forcing a smile when he sees Phichit. "Hey. How's your studying going?" he asks as he stops and steps off the ice before leaning over to put his skate guards on.

"You know, about as well as can be expected." Phichit says with a little shrug, being pretty confident about his Finals but not wanting to make Yuri feel bad. "Go home and get some rest, man." He adds, patting Yuri on the shoulder before he leans down to remove his own skate guards.

"Thanks, Phichit. Good luck." Yuri says before he heads off toward the locker/changing area to take off his skates and get cleaned up before he heads home.

The apartment is empty and silent, obviously, when Yuri gets there, but somehow he still expects there to be some remnant of his cheerful roommate left. Recognizing that he's in a weird headspace at the moment, he makes sure to put his duffel away before he heads to the bathroom to start running himself a bath with some Epsom salts and bath oils to help ease his aches and bruises from repeatedly tumbling onto the rock-hard surface of the skating rink.

After stripping down to his boxers, Yuri sits on the closed toilet seat to wait for the tub to fill, staring at the water intently and letting himself zone out in the increasingly foggy bathroom. A part of him feels guilty because he told Viktor he would respond properly to his email, but he hasn't yet. He hasn't had much time between studying, ballet, and practice. He has to study hard because he has to do well on his Finals. There is no ifs ands or buts about it. If he doesn't do well on his Finals he can't stay in school, which means he can't stay in the US and he'll have to find another coach. That just can't happen, especially if he wants to go to World's, or at least try to.

As with everything else, Yuri doesn't have much confidence in his ability to get there. He hopes that his lack of reply hasn't been affecting Viktor's practice. Then again, why would it? They barely know eachother and Yuri is a no-talent skater, especially in comparison to his idol. No, the only thing Viktor Nikiforov would be worried about right now would be refining his program with the changes he made, in order to make it even better for the European Championships and the World Cup. He probably didn't even spare a thought for his goofy little pen pal.

For a little while, there seemed to be a disconnect in Yuri's brain between the man he has been exchanging emails and letters with, and the man he saw on TV. Sure, intellectually he knows they are the same person and congratulated him in the email, but when he writes, it doesn't seem like he's writing to the great skater he always saw on TV. It clicked into place however when Yuri saw the picture of the Russian gold medalist in a suit, getting ready for the banquet. The man is a god among skaters, he is so skilled and has won so many Gold medals that no one even doubts it anymore. It's not like it's a given, but there is no doubting he is capable of it. And for some reason he has chosen to talk to Yuri.

But why is that? What interests him so much? It's not like they've even really talked about much outside of skating. Sure, Yuri mentions his home town and the hot springs, but that isn't really anything big. It's also not very personal. There is absolutely nothing about him that should be interesting to a man like Viktor Nikiforov. If it weren't for the way he talks, the pictures, and the interviews he's seen, Yuri might think that he was talking to an entirely different person. That is how much he's confused about his own worth when it comes to being any sort of inspiration or interest to the older man.

Snapping himself out of it, he sighs and reaches out to turn the water off before divesting himself of the rest of his clothes and glasses and sinking down slowly into the slightly too warm water. He's going to have bruises tomorrow, there's no getting around that, but at least he can try and ward off some of the stiffness.

Tilting his head back against the tub, Yuri stares at the ceiling and frowns a little. Celestino was right, he's had a lot on his mind and it's affecting his performance. He can't let that happen. He has to do well, and make sure that Celestino doesn't regret taking him on as a pupil. So far he hasn't done much to prove himself. The problem is getting outside of his own head. While he's aware that his anxiety is currently getting the better of him, he's never found a very good way to deal with it.

Slowly, his mind drifts from that problem back to the Viktor problem. Which isn't so much a problem maybe but to Yuri it is in a way. Mostly that he doesn't understand it. Lifting one hand out of the water to watch the droplets run down his arm to rejoin their brethren, the young skater sighs a little. "Maybe I should write him a proper letter." He mutters softly, knowing that Viktor won't get it until after the New Year at this point, if not longer because of all the holiday mail slowing down the whole system, plus that it usually takes so long to get to Russia anyway. And that's assuming that Viktor will be in St. Petersburg by the time it gets there. Still, maybe he can work out some of his problems that way. It's not really fair for him to dump everything on Viktor, but maybe he can tell the other man a little more about himself or something. Or just about his day. Just.. something.

After soaking for a while and musing that over, Yuri gets out with a small groan and dries off, dressing in some soft pajamas before he cleans out the tub and returns to the bedroom to take out the paper. He'll get this done and then do some studying before he gets some food and sleep.

~oOo~

December 21, 2011

Viktor,

I know you won't get this until after the New Year, maybe even later depending on mail and your schedule. I've just been having some trouble since the Grand Prix and I thought doing something that would take a little more time would help me focus my thoughts more and get them out. Friends and pen pals should be able to tell eachother things, right? I don't want you to bother you, and I debated not writing this, but the truth is, I've been having trouble studying and with my skating.

My head just gets so busy sometimes with thoughts and doubts. I don't know why you care. You have millions of fans, you probably get thousands of letters a week. Why did the woman – Alisa, right? - give you my letter? I can't have been the first one to send you a heartfelt letter. I just don't understand.

I may be a top JSF skater, but that feels like a lie. I'm really nothing exceptional, I'm just a dome-a-dozen skater. I've had a little more luck than some, but there are some skaters a few years behind me that will blow me out of the water when they get to the Senior division. The problem is, skating is pretty much the only thing special about me. I play some video games, but that isn't unique and it doesn't take much skill. I can cook, but that's from growing up at the inn. Someone had to help my mother and my sister can't cook to save her life. I can't really think of any reason you would want to talk to me.

I know I have a lot of anxiety. About a lot of things. The problem is, I can't tell if it's just the anxiety talking or if this is a legitimate worry sometimes. No, I told myself that I wouldn't unload everything on you. You don't know me very well, and honestly besides skating we haven't really said a lot. I told you a little about Hasetsu and Yu-Topia. That wasn't exactly what I was thinking of though.

I've spent so much of my life focused on skating that it's hard for me to think of anything else or anything outside of it that I enjoy. Oh. Well, there is college. Obviously you can't get a degree in figure skating. I've decided to go for linguistics with a nutrition minor. It's a little much since the two aren't really related, but linguistics and learning different languages will help me with skating and then after I retire, I can always teach English or another language back in Japan. And nutrition because, well. I tend to gain weight easily. I have to really watch my diet during the season. Even then, I tend to binge eat before competitions sometimes, because I get so nervous. So if I could understand nutrition a little better maybe I could figure out something that would help me, or that I could keep around which would keep me from eating too much before a competition.

Ah! There is music. The other thing that skating has shown me is all the different varieties of music. I like listening to it, though Celestino is choosing all my music for my performances. I think it's better that way since he's choreographing too. But I still like listening to music, from all sorts of genres and countries. When I go to different countries, I listen to local radio stations. Maybe I can't understand the words all the time, but I especially like listening to what's popular. American music in general is so different from Japanese, for example. It's especially different when it comes to the most popular music though. At least it seems that way to me, and to the Americans I've talked to in classes.

Not that I talk to a lot. Most of the time they start conversations with me, not the other way around. I'm kind of shy and I never know what to talk to people about. I'm the same way at competitions. I tend to keep to myself. Part of that is because of anxiety and nerves, but the other part sometimes is me not feeling like I belong there. If I don't feel I measure up to the others, it's hard for me to justify wasting their time talking to them. It's not necessarily the same way with normal people, but I have never had an easy time making friends because it's hard for me to talk to people.

I know, you might be saying I don't have trouble talking to you, but writing through letters and emails sort of keeps it from being real. I can think about what I want to say. I don't have to see a person's reactions. So if I say something especially stupid, I never really know. It's so much easier to put my thoughts onto paper or an email than they are to vocalize them. That probably sounds kind of stupid, but there it is.

I'll respond to your email properly before you get this, I promise, I just have a lot going on right now, with my finals and then the Japanese Nationals. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to get home to visit my parents. I just won't have time. I miss them though, and my sister. She's older, by the way, if I never made that clear. Five years older, so we've never been extremely close, but we've gotten better the older I get. I think your differences disappear a little more when you get to adulthood. She's always been really supportive though.

By the way, Happy Birthday! I wish I had something to give you, but maybe I'll think of something. It's not like you'll get this by your birthday anyway. I hope you went and did something special for it. Anyway, I have to study and get something to eat, so I had better put this aside for now. Good luck with your performances, Viktor. I know you'll do great.

Your Friend,

Yuri

~oOo~

After putting his letter in the envelope, Yuri looks down at it and sighs. He'll have to send it tomorrow which suits him just fine. Glancing over at his laptop for a few moments, he worries his bottom lip as he considers if he should send a reply to Viktor's email. After a moment, he shakes his head and instead pulls out his books for French so he can study. He promised Viktor a proper reply, and with his current mood and mindset right now he doesn't think it would be the right response. He has to wait for his mood to lift.

For now, he has other things to worry about, like his performance and his Finals. Though at this point he's almost more worried about his Finals than his skating programs. Luckily he only has a few more and then he'll be free for a few weeks. From classes at least. And he'll get to go back to Japan, which will be nice. Even if he can't see his parents, it'll be nice to be in more familiar surroundings. Thankfully they're going two days ahead of time to give them both time to adjust to the time difference. He has a feeling he'll be sleeping quite a lot when he first gets there. Maybe then, at least, he can spare a little time in order to email Viktor. Yes, then he can give the email the attention it deserves, and it'll help him keep his mind off his nerves for a little while.

Now that the decision is made, Yuri relaxes a little and turns his attention completely to his work, having made a few study guides for himself to help with French and what the Professor told them would be on it. Really, he should have maybe started with a different language at first since French is complicated and very different from both Japanese and English, but it was recommended to him by the university's adviser he had been emailing back and forth with before he signed up for classes. Nothing to do about it now, especially since the language requirements are, understandably, pretty high for a linguistics major. Maybe he should take Russian as well.. He would at least have one person to use it with and maybe Viktor could help him with it... Yuri shakes his head hard to dislodge those thoughts and takes a deep breath before focusing back on his studying. He can't let himself distracted. Everything else can wait.

* * *

 **SORRY. Sorry, sorry, sorry! Warmer weather in the last few weeks means I had Adulting to do, which did not leave a lot of time or energy for fic writing. But I am hopefully back at it now. I even made my Friday goal, albeit just barely. :) I hope you all will forgive me and you like this latest chapter. Thank you for sticking around!**

 **Reviews/Comments welcome!**


	12. Chapter 12

There is one thing that is certain when it comes to Viktor Nikiforov. He can be a complete child sometimes when something is upsetting him or not going his way. And right now, a week after his win at the Grand Prix, that is certainly the case. His birthday has passed which they never make a big deal about and that's fine with him. Plus, it's Christmas, so people spend it with their families. Even if Russians don't typically celebrate Christmas like the rest of the world, it's still a time to spend with family.

None of that upsets him at all in fact. What upsets him is that it's been a week since he's heard from Yuri. He had gotten used to the emails, even set up his phone to get alerts when something new came in from Yuri's address. But there's been nothing. He knows the younger skater has been busy practicing for the Japanese National's and studying for Finals, probably even busy with Christmas. But ultimately, Viktor can be a selfish person sometimes and even in such a short time he's come to rely on the gentle Japanese skater to put a smile on his face.

"Ah! Maybe there's mail!" Viktor exclaims, drawing some odd looks from those around him at the rink before he moves off to the little room where Alisa usually sorts the mail. "Good afternoon, Alisa!" He says cheerfully with a goofy smile. "Is there any mail from Yuri for me today?" He asks hopefully as he leans against the doorway.

Surprised that someone is interrupting her while she sorts the mail and puts it into the individual boxes, Alisa looks over at Viktor and sighs a little. "No, Viktor. There is no mail from your little friend. I thought you were starting to use email anyway, isn't that much faster then sending a letter from here to the United States?" She asks in confusion as she watches the taller skater.

"Oh." Viktor's expression falls and he nods, though his disappointment is clear. "Yes. We had been using email, but we had agreed that sometimes there are things that can only be expressed by putting pen to paper. It makes it different, and special, you know?" He asks as he looks at Alisa with a soft smile. "It's been a week though and I have not heard from him. I know he's been busy but I suppose I'm a little worried." He admits with a little smile.

Alisa stares at Viktor in surprise for a few moments before she nods. "Letters are certainly more special and unique, especially now when everything is so instant." She says slowly before she taps her chin with her finger. "Well, it's only a week and if he's busy you should be patient, Viktor. The world doesn't revolve around the great Viktor Nikiforov. If you are really worried you could send him another email asking him to just let you know that he's ok. But that could come across as being a little bit insecure and clingy. The other alternative is trying to find someone who knows him and contacting them." She says with a little shrug.

"Oh! That's a good idea! I hadn't thought about that. Thank you, Alisa!" Viktor says cheerfully before he turns and walks away back toward the rink. Technically his practice is over, so he can leave whenever he wants but he usually stays around to spend time with other skaters and help out where he can. "I'm heading out early, Yakov! See you tomorrow!" Viktor calls as he collects his things and quickly changes into his street shoes before he hurries away. He did hear what Alisa said about him coming across as clingy but he really doesn't think Yuri would be the type of person to care about that. At least when it came from him.

Finding out about Yuri through other means or other people is something that had never occurred to Viktor though. He knows that the other skater doesn't really use social media – he looked – but that doesn't mean he friend doesn't. Phichit Chulanont is the roommate, he remembers, and while the Russian doesn't know much about the Thai skater, there is still the possibility that he would post something about them online.

After getting home, Viktor is briefly distracted by feeding, watering, and walking Makkachin before he gets a chance to sit down at his computer. The first few tries come up with nothing, and then he finds Instagram and hits the jackpot. It's easy enough to search for Yuri in the Instagram tags and see the pictures that have been posted of the two. And there are plenty of them for Viktor to go through, some of them making him laugh and others just making him smile. One of the newer ones is obviously a sneaky picture, showing half of Phichit's face and Yuri slumped over his desk on his books, a mechanical pencil loosely in one hand still and his glasses askew. The caption below it says 'Finals week is so brutal!'. And the newest one of the two of them appears to be taken at an airport, with their arms around each other and smiles on their faces. This time the caption reads 'Good luck at Japan's National's, Yuri! I'll be lonely until you return!'.

The second one was dated for today, Viktor notes as he looks at it, and he nods slowly to himself. So Yuri has just finished Finals and almost immediately has to fly out to Japan, which is quite a flight. Though it may not be as good as getting an email, Viktor at least feels better knowing that Yuri is alive and well and was just really busy. Now he can feel a little better about possibly sending him a slightly cheeky email. He has to wish Yuri good luck with his competition afterall! After getting himself a drink, Viktor sits down at his computer again and opens an email, taking a few moments to pet Makkachin before he figures out what he wants to say.

~oOo~

Date: Dec 27, 2011, 3:26 PM

From: v-nikiforov

To: k-yuri

Subject: Good luck!

Yuri,

Hello! You've been a very bad boy, Yuri. I haven't heard from you, despite your promise.

Just kidding! I'm not upset, I know you've been busy with practicing and school. I understand! Don't worry, I've been busy as well, refining my program for the Russian Nationals. I suppose I could probably get away with not competing there, but I don't want to ask and seem too arrogant or presumptuous. I don't mind going to another competition. There's never any guarantee I'll win, afterall! I can't afford to make any assumptions.

I saw a note I left on my calendar to remind me about the Japanese Nationals. I suppose you're going to be on your way there soon. That must be quite a flight! I hope you have some time to relax before you have to compete. Send me pictures! I've never been to Japan. Have you ever been to Kadoma before? That's where the competition is, right? I'll be leaving next week for the Russian Nationals, but I won't have to go far, since it's in Saransk, and that's not too far from St. Petersburg by plane. It will be nice not to have to travel far, for once. Especially since the European Championships are in Sheffield, England this year. Exciting!

Back to your competition! I had to look up the place again, to make sure it was the right one. I've never heard of Kadoma, but it looks cute! I think I'd rather see Hasetsu though. You seem to really love it, which makes it even more interesting. I'd like to know everything about you. What kind of rink you grew up skating at, what kind of town inspired you.

Oh! I hope that wasn't too scary. I just find you very interesting. I've never met anyone like you. I am selfish, I hope that I get to see a side of you no one else does. I can't wait until we can meet in person! But don't worry, I know it will happen eventually and I'm willing to wait as long as it takes! We are both busy people afterall, and we're both trying to do our best for our passion. I hope you get to have some fun, too, though! You should be able to while you're in college, even if you are competing! You have the whole summer, yes?

I hope you do well with your program, Yuri. Just try to relax, and ignore the crowd. Just imagine you're alone on the ice, like when you practice! That used to help me when I was still in Juniors and not used to the crowd yet. Makka and I will be cheering you on!

I hope you'll let me know when you get there, so I know you're ok! I'm a little sad I haven't heard from you, which is selfish of me, I know. Good luck out there this Friday, Yuri!

Your friend,

Viktor XO

~oOo~

After reading through the email and making a few adjustments, Viktor nods a little to himself and he smiles. Satisfied with the email, he sends it off before stretching and looking down at the dozing Makkachin. "Well, now what will we do for the rest of the day, hm? Maybe I'll go for a swim, it's been a while since I went down to the pool." He muses, getting up and going to collect the things he'll need. One of the perks of his building is that it has its own weight room and indoor pool exclusively for the tenants, even if no one uses it a lot. The building doesn't really have a lot of children in it and Viktor seems to be the only one who uses it regularly.

As he starts to do laps, Viktor thinks about Yuri and the last time he saw the younger man skate. If only he had a little more confidence, he could be a force to be reckoned with. He hopes that since he's had a little more time to practice, his performance at Kadoma will be better. The Russian skater didn't lie, he would be there watching Yuri. The only regret the man had was not having a way to immediately congratulate or console Yuri. With his mind drifting back toward his Instagram-stalking of the Japanese skater, Viktor muses about whether he should make more moves to try and contact Yuri. Surely someone must have his phone number. Probably Phichit, but he doesn't know how to contact the Thai skater. And even so there's no guarantee he would be willing to give Viktor the number.

Shaking his head a little as he pauses at one side of the pool, Viktor frowns at himself. No, it's not like him to do something like that. And he doesn't want to become someone he's not. Laughing a little at his own silliness, Viktor pushes off the wall and starts laps again. He should have asked if Yuri brought the plush Makkachin with him to keep him company. Probably not but the thought of it makes him smile. He'll just have to wait and see what happens. And in the end, that's alright with him, he doesn't need to rush anything and in fact he enjoys seeing what will come. He hopes there will be many more surprises in his future.

* * *

 **A little bit shorter than my others, sorry about that. Summer weather has made my schedule a little crazier, so I may not be able to post except once every two weeks now. It depends on how things go, but I wanted you all to know I'm still around! Adulting just sucks. I hope you guys still enjoy this, and thanks for sticking with me!**

 **Comments/Reviews welcome!**


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